Taisei Makihara

Taisei Makihara (牧原 大成)

• Bats Left, Throws Right
• Height 5' 8", Weight 150 lb.

• High School Johoku High School

• Born October 15, 1992 in Kurume, Fukuoka Japan

BR register page

Biographical Information

Taisei Makihara has played in Nippon Pro Baseball.

Makihara was drafted by the Fukuoka Softbank Hawks in the fifth round of the development phase in the 2010 NPB draft. In his rookie year, he was sent to the Brisbane Bandits of the Australian Baseball League, and hit .194/.219/.194. Makihara spent the first six years in the NPB Farm Leagues, led the Western league in steals with 19 in 2013, and led in triples with 6 in 2012. Makihara represented Japan in the 2014 U-21 Baseball World Cup, and was named the captain. He was 15-for-33 in that event, and collected 2 doubles off Chun-Lin Kuo in the final. Although Japan was beaten by Taiwan in the final, Makihara still won the Best Nine of the cup as a shortstop. He was 4th in average (between Po-Jung Wang and Ja-wook Koo) and tied Koo for third in hits. He shined in the ni-gun in this year, hit .374/.396/.474, won the batting title and broke the Western League record with 120 hits. However, the Fukuoka native only had 156 at-bats combined from 2012 to 2017.

Makihara finally broke out in 2018. When the Hawks promoted him in July, Makihara recorded a solid .317/.341/.434 batting line with 3 homers. Unfortunately, he injured his right foot and missed the 2018 Nippon Series. 2019 was the first year that he stayed with the big club for the entire season. He was the main utility player for the Hawks, and batted .242/.267/.308 with 3 homers. In the 2019 Nippon Series, Makihara hit .182/.273/.182 with a 2-run double off Kazuto Taguchi in Game 1, and won his first Nippon Series Title. He slumped to .241/.256/.324 in 2020. Makihara came back and hit .278/.305/.363 in the 2021 season. He had played on second base, third base, shortstop and outfield in this season. 2022 was Makihara's career year. He was selected into the 2022 NPB All-Star Game, and went 2-for-4 in 2 games. He recorded a .301/.331/.408 with a career-high 6 homers and 123 hits.

Makihara then made into the Japan's roster for the 2023 World Baseball Classic as the replacement for injured Seiya Suzuki. He was used as pinch-hitter and defensive replacement; he only had 6 at-bats and hit a RBI single (off Jan Tomek of the Czech in the 6th inning) for the champions.