Masayuki Kuwahara

Masayuki Kuwahara (桑原 将志)

• Bats Right, Throws Right
• Height 5' 8", Weight 163 lb.

• High School Fukuchiyama Seibi High School

• Born July 21, 1993 in Izumi, Osaka Japan

BR register page

Biographical Information

Masayuki Kuwahara has played in Nippon Pro Baseball.

Kuwahara was drafted by the Chiba Lotte Marines in the fourth round of the 2011 NPB draft. He spent his rookie year in the NPB Farm Leagues, and debuted with the big club on October 1, 2012. He also collected his first Pacific League hit off Daisuke Yamai on the same game. Kuwahara played 90 games with a .270 batting average in the minor Eastern League in 2013, but only gained 6 at-bats in the major Pacific League. He hit for a cycle against the Chiba Lotte Marines in the Eastern League on June 21, 2014. He played 53 games with the big club in this year and hit .257/.335/.354. Kuwahara batted .184/.222/.272 in the 2015 season.

The young outfielder broke out in 2016. He batted .284/.356/.413 with 11 homers, and secured the starting center fielder spot. On September 15, he and Yoshio Itoi became the first pair of leadoff hitters to both crush a homerun on the first pitch of a game. 2017 was Kuwahara's career year. He played all 143 games as a leadoff centerfielder, recording a .269/.332/.415 batting line with a career-high 13 dingers. He also won his first NPB Gold Glove in his career as an outfielder. He hit .154/.214/.154 in the 2017 Japan Series as Yokohama fell to the dynastic Softbank Hawks. He extended his stable performance in 2018, and hit for a cycle in the major league on July 20. The Izumi native recorded a .261/.324/.422 batting line with 9 homers and 17 steals in this season.

Kuwahara mysteriously struggled in 2019, his batting average fell to .186, and he only played 72 games in the big league. His batting line declined to .139/.220/.222 in 2020, and he spent nearly the entire season in the ni-gun; he only had 36 at-bats in NPB. When Takayuki Kajitani transferred to the Yomiuri Giants, Kuwahara finally took back the starting centerfielder spot in 2021. He dramatically bounced back and recorded a .310/.369/.474 batting line in this year. He led the league in doubles (39), ranked 3th in hits (161, 17 behind Koji Chikamoto), 3th in runs (84, 7 behind Chikamoto), 5th in batting average (.310, .007 behind Seiya Suzuki) and 7th in steals. He had 47 votes in Best Nine voting, the sixth-highest point for CL outfielders and being 60 points shy of winning that award. Kuwahara regressed and only batted .257/.322/.354 in 2022.

The Osaka native hit .252/.301/.373 in 2023 and won his second Gold Glove as an outfielder, joining Chikamoto and Yuki Okabayashi. Kuwahara then hit.270/.321/.365 in 2024, and he was 1-for-8 in the 2024 CLCS first stage. In the final stage, he was 5-for-19 with two doubles in Game 3, and the BayStars eliminated the Yomiuri Giants in 6 games. He then put on quite a show in the 2024 Japan Series, going 12-for-26 against the heavily-favored Hawks; he had 9 RBI and played fine defense in center in an upset six-game win. His game 3 homer off Ryosuke Ohtsu was the game-winning hit, and he had 3 hits and 3 RBI in the clincher, Game 6. Kuwahara broke the Nippon Series by getting a RBI in 5 straight games, despite being a leadoff man. He was named the Series MVP.