Shuzo Arita

Shuzo Arita (有田 修三)

• Bats Right, Throws Right
• Height 5' 8", Weight 176 lb.

• High School Ube Shogyo High School

• Born September 27, 1951 in Ube, Yamaguchi Japan

BR register page

Biographical Information

Shuzo Arita caught in Nippon Pro Baseball.

Arita was drafted by the Kintetsu Buffaloes in the second round of the 1972 NPB draft. He spent the first years of his career in the NPB Farm Leagues, only playing 17 games combined with the top team. Arita was the backup to Masataka Nashida in 1974, and hit .165/.205/.278 in 85 at-bats. The Ube native replaced Nashida and became the starting catcher for the Buffaloes in 1975. He batted .259/.314/.366 and won his first NPB Gold Glove award in the 1975 season. In the 1975 Climax Series, Arita blasted a 2-run homer off Mitsuhiro Adachi in Game 1, and won the fighting spirit award. He was selected into the 1976 NPB All-Star Game, and went 1-for-4 in Game 2; the only hit was a double off Masaji Hiramatsu in the 8th inning. He also played in the other All-Star Games that year, but didn't get any plate appearances. He ended up hitting .263/.325/.356 in the 1976 season, and won the Gold Glove for the second consecutive year.

Arita slumped slightly and hit .226/.338/.321 in 1977. He participated in the All-Star Game again in the next year, and hit a single off Terashi Donoue in the 5th inning of Game 2. He recorded a .258/.354/.390 batting line with 10 homers in the 1978 season. Arita was injured and lost the starting catcher spot in 1979, and he only played 58 games in that year. In 1979 Nippon Series, Arita came back and went 3-for-10 in the series. He crushed a 2-run shot off Yutaka Enatsu in Game 2, and collected a solo home run from Hiroaki Fukushi in Game 4. The Hiroshima Carp beat the Buffaloes with a 4-3. Arita batted .309/.434/.569 with 16 homers in 1980. He went 3-for-11 in the 1980 Nippon Series, but the Buffaloes lost the series to the Carp in 7 games again.

In 1981, Nashida took back the starting catcher spot, and Arita was used as a designated hitter sometimes. He hit .245/.347/.380 in 1981, then recorded a .223/.330/.400 batting line in 1982. Arita collected a career-high 17 homers with a .232/.338/.519 batting line in the next year. Although he still blasted 14 homers in 1984, his batting line fell to .207/.293/.428. When his battery partner Keishi Suzuki retired in 1985, Arita was limited to 44 games played with a .259/.378/.420 batting line. The Buffaloes then traded him to the Yomiuri Giants for Shoji Sadaoka. However, Sadaoka refused to transfer and announced his retirement, so the Giants replaced him in the deal with Kenji Awaguchi and Masaru Yamaoka.

The Giants already had All-Star catcher Kazuhiro Yamakura, so Arita didn't got many chances. He served as the backup of Yakamura in 1986 with a .215/.324/.375 batting line. Yamakura won the CL MVP the next year, so Arita only played 40 games in that season. When Yakamura was injured and missed most of the 1988 season, Arita grabbed this opportunity and hit .292/.354/.510 with 12 homers. He won the NPB Comeback Player of the Year Award, becoming the first catcher to win this award. However, since the Giants signed free agent Takayoshi Nakao in 1989, the 38-year-old Arita only played 30 games in the 1989 season. He then transferred to the Fukuoka Daiei Hawks in 1990. Arita hit .242/.342/.364 in 33 at-bats in the 1990 season, then retired and became a coach. He was the battery coach for the Hawks from 1990 to 1991 and also coached for the Salinas Spurs in 1991, and transferred to the Hanshin Tigers in 1992. He worked as the battery coach for the Tigers until 1995, then came back and coached the Buffaloes from 1996 to 1999.

Overall, Arita had hit .247/.336/.407 in 18 seasons in NPB.