Nanako Hanabusa

Nanako Hanabusa (英 菜々子)

• Bats Right, Throws Right
• Height 5' 3", Weight 137 lb.

• School Nihon University
• High School Komazawa Gakuen Girls High School

• Born October 23, 1997 in Suginami, Tokyo Japan

Biographical Information

Nanako Hanabusa has been on the Japanese women's national team.

She debuted in the 2023 Women's Baseball Asian Cup, being retired by Min-jeong Kwak of South Korea her first time up. Her first hit was a single off Song-hee Choi to score Tamaki Muramatsu. She was 5-for-11 with two walks, a steal, six runs and four RBI in six games for the champs, handling 21 chances error-free at catcher and allowing a steal in the lone attempt. She tied for Sana Jinsiya Kacheri Kunnummal for 6th in putouts (19). She was named the event's All-Star backstop.

Japan moved on to the 2023-2024 Women's Baseball World Cup. In the 2023 portion, she was 4-for-7 with two runs, six RBI. She drove in a game-winning, game-ending run when her single off Venezuela's Abril Amaro scored Miwa Naraoka. She tied Hsiao-Mei Chen, Libia Duarte and Mariana Valdez for 4th in RBI in the pool. Japan cruised into the 2024 phase. That year, she went 5-for-10 with a walk, three times plunked, a steal, four runs and two RBI. In the title game, she scored the first run in the 11-6 victory over Team USA when she singled in the third off Jillian Albayati and came home on an error by Olivia Pichardo. She was 3rd in HBP (behind Alex Hugo and Sena Catterall), tied Remi Schaber and Catterall for 5th in average led in OBP (.018 ahead of Catterall). She handled 32 chances error-free and threw out one of five base-stealers. She tied Yuki Kawabata for the fielding lead and trailed only Naomi Ryan and Kawabata in putouts (30). She was named the All-World catcher.