Masahiro Nishino

Masahiro Nishino (西野 真弘)

• Bats Left, Throws Right
• Height 5' 6", Weight 150 lb.

• School International Budo University
• High School Tokai University Urayasu High School

• Born August 2, 1990 in Edogawa, Tokyo Japan

BR register page

Biographical Information

Masahiro Nishino has played in Nippon Pro Baseball and for the Japanese national team.

He was twice a Best Nine pick in college. Undrafted, he played for East Japan Railway in the industrial leagues and won Best Nine his first year there as well. He made Japan's squad for the 2014 Asian Games and was 1 for 8 but with a walk, a hit-by-pitch, three runs, four RBI, two sacrifice flies and a homer while playing error-free defense as their main second baseman. Japan won the Bronze Medal.

The Orix Buffaloes took him in the 7th round of the 2014 NPB draft. He got his first plate appearance April 2, 2015, batting for Katsuki Yamazaki and retired by Nao Higashihama. His first hit came 10 days later off Kenji Tomura and his first homer was against Manabu Mima. He hit .304/.370/.403 on the season with 9 steals in 11 tries and 31 runs in 57 games, fielding .995 at 2B. While he played 46 games there, he was Orix's most-used player at the position. Among players with 150+ plate appearances, he was 6th in the Pacific League in average (between Akihisa Makida and Ginji Akaminai) in a solid rookie stint. He did not play enough to be on the official league leaderboard.

Playing full-time in 2016, his production fell a bit (.264/.335/.331, .979 FLD%). He legged out 7 triples, stole 16 bases in 21 tries, drew 56 walks and scored 63 times. He led PL second basemen in errors, tied Eigoro Mogi for the league lead in three-baggers and tied Takashi Ogino for 9th in swipes. He was still the starter for most of 2017 but saw a reduced role and reduced offense (.234/.305/.309, 8 SB, 4 CS, 33 R).

In 2018, he was succeeded by Shuhei Fukuda at 2B and wound up backing up Koji Oshiro at third mostly. He fielded .969 there and his offense picked up (.293/.333/.378 in 60 G). He also spent increased time in the minors. He was one of numerous third-base options Orix tried in 2019, hitting .241/.314/.301 in 56 games and handling 89 chances error-free. In the minors, he hit .312/.399/.370.