Katsuyoshi Murata

Katsuyoshi Murata (村田 勝喜)

• Bats Right, Throws Right
• Height 5' 11", Weight 158 lb.

• High School Seiryo High School

• Born September 18, 1969 in Kanazawa, Ishikawa Japan

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Biographical Information

Katsuyoshi Murata was a two-time All-Star in Nippon Pro Baseball.

Murata was 6th-round pick of the Nankai Hawks in the 1987 NPB draft. He made it to the big club for 7 games in 1988, going 0-1 with a 3.38 ERA. On October 20, he got the last loss in Nankai's decades-long history. The club became the Daiei Hawks in 1989 and the teenager entered the starting rotation; he went 7-8 with a 3.95 ERA and 88 walks in 130 innings.

In 1990, the young hurler really had a rough time of it, with a 7-15, 5.79 record. He led the Pacific League in losses, runs allowed and earned runs allowed. He gave up 29 homers (four shy of the league lead) and walked 92 (still 17 shy of leader Hideo Nomo. In 1991, he turned it around at 13-9, 3.54 with 155 strikeouts in 188 innings. He made the PL All-Star team and was 11th in the league in ERA, .01 shy of #10 Nobuyuki Hoshino.

Murata was 10-9 with a 3.67 ERA in 1992 and 10-12 with a 3.21 ERA in 1993, his other All-Star season. He finished 8th in the league in ERA, between Takehiro Ishii and Kazuhiro Takeda. He was then part of a major trade with Makoto Sasaki and Takehiro Hashimoto to the Seibu Lions for Koji Akiyama, Tomio Watanabe and Tomoyuki Uchiyama.

With Seibu in 1994, Murata was 4-5 with a 4.53 ERA and 69 walks in 101 1/3 IP. He allowed one run in one inning in the 1994 Japan Series, which the Lions lost to the Yomiuri Giants. In 1995, the Ishikawa native allowed 12 runs in 17 2/3 IP. Seibu then dealt him with Kazuaki Yamano to the Chunichi Dragons for Hiroyuki Maehara and Masaji Shimizu.

Murata saw limited action with Chunichi in 1996 (1-3, 9.95) and 1997 (2-3, 6.35) to end his career. Overall, he had gone 54-65 with a 4.23 ERA in 181 NPB games, with 524 walks in 1,053 1/3 IP.

Murata threw a fastball, slider, curveball and forkball.

Source: Japanbaseballdaily.com