Masato Watanabe

Masato Watanabe (渡辺 正人)

• Bats Right, Throws Right
• Height 6' 0", Weight 176 lb.

• High School Uenomiya High School

• Born April 3, 1979 in Osaka, Osaka Japan

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Biographical Information

Masato Watanabe has been an infielder for the Chiba Lotte Marines.

Watanabe was a 4th round pick of the Chiba Lotte Marines in the 1997 NPB draft. He made it to Nippon Pro Baseball in 2001, going 7 for 31 with 3 walks. His first hit was on July 31 off Sean Bergman. He played 106 games in 2002 as a defensive sub who appeared in over 40 games at second (backing up Koichi Hori), shortstop (behind Makoto Kosaka) and third (behind Kiyoshi Hatsushiba. He hit .199/.257/.298. His first homer came May 3 against Koji Mitsui, a 3-run shot.

In 2003, Watanabe batted .219/.266/.431 with 7 homers in 160 AB over 104 games. He played over 50 games at both second (backing up Hori) and at third (backing up Jose Fernandez). Masato hit .241/.267/.310 in 64 plate appearances over 43 games in 2004 as the Marines' #4 third baseman (after Matt Franco, Hatsushiba and Toshiaki Imae) and #3 shortstop (after Kosaka and Tsuyoshi Nishioka). He broke his left hand that year during a slide.

He was 2 for 13 in 20 games in 2005 but then saw increased action in the 2005 Japan Series, going 1 for 4 with a run while splitting time pretty evenly with Hori and Hisao Heiuchi at second base as the Marines won their only title (through 2009).

Watanabe was one of three second basemen (42 games) to split the backup role behind Hori in 2006 and he also was the primary backup (23 games) to Nishioka at short. He hit .194/.247/.236 for the season. He fell to .173/.246/.212 in 34 games in 2007 but batted .306/.342/.444 in 28 games in 2008. He did not bat in his three games in 2009 and finished the year with a career line of .215/.266/.329 in 645 plate appearances and 427 games.

Source: Japanbaseballdaily.com by Gary Garland

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