Kyohei Muranaka

Kyohei Muranaka (村中 恭兵)

• Bats Left, Throws Left
• Height 6' 1", Weight 169 lb.

• High School Kofu High School of Tokai University

• Born October 25, 1987 in Aiko-gun, Kanagawa Japan

BR register page

Biographical Information

Kyohei Muranaka pitched in Nippon Pro Baseball for 11 years.

Muranaka was drafted by the Yakult Swallows in the first round of the high school phase in the 2005 NPB draft, and he only pitched one game with the big club in his first two seasons. He was 6-11 with a 4.34 ERA in in 2008, and he was 4th in losses in the Central League (tied with Takashi Ogasawara). Muranaka slumped to 1-6 with a 4.12 ERA in 2009, and he soon bounced back in 2010. He was 11-10 with a 3.44 ERA, and he was 2nd in strikeouts (11 behind Kenta Maeda), 10th in wins (tied with Jason Standridge and Tetsuya Utsumi) and 6th in ERA (between Shun Tono and Kazuki Yoshimi).

The Kanagawa native missed most of the 2011 season due to injuries, and he was 4-6 with a 4.29 ERA that season. He then went 10-7 with a 3.88 ERA in 2012, leading the league with 2 shutouts and ranking 8th in wins (tied with Atsushi Nomi, Randy Messenger, Hirokazu Sawamura and Soma Yamauchi) and 3rd in walks (9 behind Orlando Roman). Muranaka struggled in 2013 as he was 5-9 with a 5.00 ERA, then he had a 3.79 ERA in 7 games in 2014. He was turned into a reliever in 2016 after staying in the minors for a year, and he pitched 52 games with 6 holds and a 3.90 ERA.

Muranaka's ERA was 3.07 in 13 games in 2017, and he only pitched 2 innings with the big club in 2018. He was placed in the minor league in 2019, and the Swallows released him. Muranaka then went to the Auckland Tuatara, and he was 2-2 with a 2.73 ERA in 2019-2020 ABL. He pitched for the Tochigi Golden Braves of the Baseball Challenge League, then he announced his retirement.

Overall, Muranaka was 46-55 with a 4.30 ERA, struck out 600 and pitched 805 1/3 innings in 11 seasons in NPB.

Sources

• Wiki Japan