Keita Nakagawa

Keita Nakagawa (中川 圭太)

• Bats Right, Throws Right
• Height 5' 10", Weight 167 lbs.

• School Toyo University
• High School PL Gakuen High School

• Born April 12, 1996 in Hannan, Osaka Japan

BR register page

Biographical Information

Keita Nakagawa has played in Nippon Pro Baseball.

Nakagawa was drafted by the Orix Buffaloes in the seventh round of the 2018 NPB draft, and he was promoted to the big club as a rookie. He hit .386 in Interleague play, becoming the first rookie to have the best batting average in interleague games. Nakagawa ended up hitting .288/.334/.382 with 3 homers, and he got 3 votes for the 2019 Pacific League Rookie of the Year Award, finishing fourth behind Rei Takahashi's 206 votes, Hiroshi Kaino's 39 and Wataru Matsumoto's 4. However, Nakagawa slumped to .146/.195/.208 in 2020, and he fractured his left hand so he only played 61 games with a .212/.259/.263 batting line in 2021.

The Osaka native finally rebounded in 2022. He hit .283/.326/.441 with 8 homers, led the Pacific League with 9 triples and ranked 12th in hits (41 behind Hiroaki Shimauchi). He was 6-for-15 with a clutch walk-off single against Livan Moinelo of the Fukuoka Softbank Hawks in Game 4 to helped the Buffaloes advance to the 2022 Nippon Series. In that series, Nakagawa was 7-for-31, with a triple against Yasuhiro Ogawa in Game 1, and won his first Nippon Series title as the Buffaloes beat the Yakult Swallows in 7 games. He finished 12th in voting for the 2022 PL MVP, between Shota Abe and Kenta Imamiya.

He only hit .269/.334/.417 with 12 homers in 2023, and ranked 2nd in triples (1 behind Hiroto Kobukata). He was the leadoff hitter in all of Orix's 4 games against the Chiba Lotte Marines in the final stage of the 2023 PLCS, and went 3-for-17, with a RBI single against Yusuke Azuma in Game 1. In the 2023 Nippon Series, Nakagawa was 6-for-21 with 2 RBI, but the Buffaloes were beaten by the Hanshin Tigers in 7 games.