Masato Morishita

Masato Morishita (森下 暢仁)

• Bats Right, Throws Right
• Height 5' 11", Weight 167 lb.

• School Meiji University
• High School Oita Shogyo High School

• Born August 25, 1997 in Oita, Oita Japan

BR register page

Biographical Information

Masato Morishita has pitched in Nippon Pro Baseball.

Morishita was excellent when Japan finished second in the 2015 U-18 Baseball World Cup (1-0, 0 R in 10 IP, 14 K, 4 H, 0 BB). He won Gold in the 2017 summer Universiade. In the 2018 Haarlem Baseball Week, he helped Japan win another title, with strong starts against Italy, Germany and Taiwan (the latter in the finals). He was 1-0 with a 1.56 ERA and 16 K in 16 IP. He led the event in IP (two ahead of Wataru Matsumoto) and started and was 5th in whiffs.

He was the Hiroshima Carp's first pick in the 2019 NPB draft. He was excellent as a rookie in 2020 at 10-3, 1.91 with 124 K in 122 2/3 IP. He tied Yasuhiro Ogawa and Shinichi Ohnuki for 5th in wins, was 3rd in strikeouts (behind Yudai Ono and Tomoyuki Sugano) and was second in ERA (.09 behind Ono). He got 303 of 313 votes for the 2020 Central League Rookie of the Year Award, to 9 for runner-up Shosei Togo. He also got 5 third-place votes for the 2020 CL MVP, tying Seiya Suzuki for 7th in vote points.

His fastball has hit 96 mph.