Motohiro Shima

Motohiro Shima (嶋 基宏)

• Bats Right, Throws Right
• Height 5' 10", Weight 180 lb.
• School Kokugakuin University
• High School Chukyo University Senior High School

• Born December 13, 1984 in Kaizu, Gifu Japan

BR register page

Biographical Information

Motohiro Shima has been a catcher in Nippon Pro Baseball.

Shima won a batting crown as a college junior, then won a Tokyo Metropolitan University League Best Nine nod as a senior. The Rakuten Golden Eagles took him in the third round of the 2006 NPB draft. As a rookie, he became Rakuten's starting backstop and made the Pacific League All-Star team. He only hit .183/.234/.221 for the season, though, with 47 runs produced in 125 games. His first career hit was on March 28 off Toshiya Sugiuchi and his first homer came a month and a day later against Tomoya Yagi.

Shima fell into a part-time role in 2008, splitting action with Akihito Fujii; Shima hit .230/.288/.296. He had similar numbers (.233/.303/.281) in 2009 while reclaiming the primary spot. He really stepped it up in 2010, batting .315/.380/.377. He won the Gold Glove at catcher in the PL, was 8th in the league in average (between Munenori Kawasaki and Hiroyuki Nakajima and 9th in OBP (between Nakajima and Hitoshi Tamura. He was also named to the Best Nine as the league's top backstop.

Sources

• Japanbaseballdaily.com
• Chinese Wiki Baseball