Masumitsu Moriguchi

Masumitsu Moriguchi (森口 益光)

• Bats Right, Throws Right
• Height 5' 11", Weight 176 lbs.

• School Kindai University
• High School Osaka University of Commerce High School

• Born July 20, 1953 in Yao, Osaka, Japan

BR register page

Biographical Information

Masumitsu Moriguchi pitched in Nippon Pro Baseball for 11 years.

Moriguchi was drafted by the Nankai Hawks in the first round of the 1975 NPB draft, but he stayed in the NPB Farm Leagues in his first season. He had a 4.40 ERA in 17 appearances in 1977, and he entered the rotation in 1978. Moriguchi was 9-10 with a 3.29 ERA, and he led the Pacific League with 73 walks (tied with Yoshinori Sato. He was 9th in ERA (between Masanori Murakami and Yutaka Yanagida), 3rd in shutouts (4, tied with Naoki Takahashi) and 10th in strikeouts (between Takahashi and Manabu Fujita).

The Osaka native then went 9-14 with a 4.17 ERA in 1979, and he led the league with 3 shutouts (tied with Hisashi Yamada, Choji Murata and Tatsumi Murata). He also ranked 7th in strikeouts (tied with Yanagida) and 3rd in losses (tied with Kenji Furusawa and Hisao Sugita). Moriguchi slumped to 3-14 with a 5.47 ERA in 1980, and he tied Hirohisa Matsunuma and Shigekazu Mori for 2nd in losses. He was 1-8 with a 4.68 ERA in 1981, and he was removed from the rotation. Moriguchi had a 4.19 ERA in 21 games in 1982, then his ERA was 5.66 in 16 games in 1983. He pitched a career-high 36 games in 1984, but his ERA rose to 6.60. Thus, he only pitched 5 games combined in the next two seasons then he was released. The Chunichi Dragons picked him up, and he had a 5.33 ERA in 20 games in 1987. He stayed in the ni-gun for the entire 1988 season, then he announced his retirement.

Overall, Moriguchi was 27-58 with a 4.61 ERA, struck out 445 and pitched 861 innings in 11 years in NPB.

Sources

• Wiki Japan
• NPB.com Bio