Shoitsu Omatsu

Shoitsu Omatsu (大松 尚逸)

• Bats Left, Throws Left
• Height 6' 1", Weight 198 lb.

• School Tokai University
• High School Kanazawa High School

• Born June 16, 1982 in Kanazawa, Ishikawa Japan

BR register page

Biographical Information

Outfielder Shoitsu Omatsu has played for several years in Nippon Pro Baseball.

Omatsu was captain of the Japanese collegiate All-Star team in 2004. They won the Silver Medal in the 2004 World University Championship, second to the USA. He was picked in the 5th round of the 2004 NPB draft by the Chiba Lotte Marines.

Omatsu debuted with the big club on July 12, 2005. He got his first hit, a single, off Kevin Beirne five days later. For the year, he was 1 for 7 with a walk for the Marines. In 2006, he was one of seven Chiba Lotte outfielders to appear in at least 40 games, none of them having over 300 AB as an outfielder. The other players in the mix were Benny Agbayani, Saburo Omura, Matt Franco, Val Pascucci, Matt Watson and Akira Otsuka. Omatsu hit .217/.266/.389 with 31 RBI in 180 AB over 74 games. His first career homer was a grand slam off Fumiya Nishiguchi in April.

Omatsu hit .300/.343/.437 in a backup role in 2007 as Omura, Agbayani and Daisuke Hayakawa were the regulars. In 2008, he won a starting role and batted .262/.316/.499 with 30 doubles, 24 home runs and 91 RBI, earning a spot on the Pacific League All-Star team. He hit .571 with the bases loaded, including three grand slams. He also set a Marines record for RBI in a month by a native-born player (31 in July). Used in both left field and right field, he was Chiba Lotte's primary #5 hitter, batting behind frequent cleanup men Omura and Tomoya Satozaki. He finished 6th in the PL in RBI (between Nobuhiko Matsunaka and Craig Brazell), 7th in homers and 8th in slugging (between Toshiaki Imae and Matsunaka).

The Kanazawa native fell to .269/.334/.445 with 28 doubles, 19 home runs and 79 RBI in 2009. On June 11, he became the first NPB player with three plate appearances in one inning; he was 1 for 3 with a run and 2 RBI in a 15-run 6th against the Hiroshima Carp. On July 10, he broke up a no-hitter by Kazuhito Tadano with a two-out 9th inning single.

Shoitsu batted .260/.339/.403 with 16 homers in 2010. He started in left for the Marines and hit 5th behind Korean import Tae-kyun Kim. He was 10th in the league in strikeouts (99) and tied Omura for 8th in walks (56).

Primary Source: Japanbaseballdaily.com