Shuta Tanaka

Shuta Tanaka (田中 秀太)

• Bats Left Throws Right
• Height 5' 10", Weight 172 lb.

• High School Kumamoto Technical High School

• Born February 23, 1977 in Yokohama, Kanagawa Japan

BR register page

Biographical Information

Shuta Tanaka played in Nippon Pro Baseball for 12 years. His father Hisayuki Tanaka was an infielder for Japanese national team.

Tanaka was drafted by the Hanshin Tigers in the 3rd round of the 1994 NPB draft, but he spent his first four seasons primarily in the NPB Farm Leagues; he only got 2-at-bats combined with the big club. He also played 44 games with a .164/.285/.241 batting line and fielding .943 at short for the GCL Tigers in 1996. Tanaka became Hanshin's starting second baseman in 1999, and he collected 15 steals with a .241/.307/.286 batting line. He was moved to shortstop in 2000, and he hit .251/.325/.287 with 5 steals. He lost his starting spot in 2001 as Atsushi Fujimoto and Yoshinori Okihara split the job, and he had a .214/.297/.236 batting line in 86 games. Tanaka hit .245/.299/.284 in 81 games in 2002, and he played 102 games with a .174/.208/.246 batting line (69 at-bats) in 2003. He never had more than 15 at-bats for the big club before he announced his retirement in 2009. Tanaka then became a scout for Hanshin, signing Masaki Tanigawa, Ryutaro Umeno, Masumi Hamachi, Masaki Iwata, Daichi Takeyasu, Shintaro Yokota, Ippei Ogawa, Ryuhei Obata, Ryoma Matsuda and Masahiro Nakatani. He was named the minor league fielding coach of the Tigers in 2022, and he became the fielding coach for their big club in 2025.

Overall, Tanaka hit .230/.298/.272 with 200 hits and 3 homers in 12 seasons in NPB.

Sources

• Wiki Japan