Shintaro Mizutani

Shintaro Mizutani (水谷 新太郎)

• Bats Left, Throws Right
• Height 5' 9", Weight 162 lbs.

• High School Mie High School

• Born December 7, 1953 in Matsuzaka, Mie Japan

BR register page

Biographical Information

Shortstop Shintaro Mizutani played in Nippon Pro Baseball for 15 years.

Mizutani was drafted by the Yakult Swallows in the ninth round of the 1971 NPB draft, but he spent his first four seasons in the NPB Farm Leagues, only playing 25 games combined with the big club. He was named their starting shortstop in 1976, and he hit .208/.281/.263 in 100 games. Mizutani then recorded a .203/.263/.280 batting line in 1977, and he improved to .290/.354/.370 in 1978. He was 3-for-20 in the 1978 Nippon Series, and the Swallows beat the Hankyu Braves in 7 games. However, his batting line fell to .211/.276/.268 in 1979, and he hit .252/.295/.326 in 1980.

The Mie native led the Central League with 7 triples in 1981, and his batting line was .253/.301/.377. He then hit .255/.313/.310 in 1982 and .267/.306/.339 in 1983. Mizutani had a career-high batting average in 1984 as his batting line was .291/.335/.373, and he hit 20 doubles with a .263/.320/.360 batting line. After hitting .237/.287/.285 in 1986, Mizutani suffered from right foot injuries, so he only played 91 games combined in the next three seasons. He announced his retirement in 1990, and he coached the Swallows from 1991 to 2006. Mizutani went to the Yokohama BayStars in 2008 as their fielding coach, and he also coached their minor league team from 2010 to 2012.

Overall, Mizutani hit .250/.303/.325 with 854 hits and 23 homers in 15 years in NPB.

Sources

• Wiki Japan
• NPB.com Bio