Takayuki Murakami

Takayuki Murakami (村上 隆行)

• Bats Right, Throws Right
• Height 5' 10", Weight 178 lbs.

• High School Omuta High School

• Born August 26, 1965 in Omuta, Fukuoka Japan

BR register page

Biographical Information

Takayuki Murakami played in Nippon Pro Baseball for 17 years. He is the brother-in-law of Hiroki Nobayashi and Norihiro Nakamura.

Murakami was selected by the Kintetsu Buffaloes in the third round of the 1983 NPB draft, and he primarily spent his first season in the NPB Farm Leagues, as he only played 2 games with the big club. He was named the starting shortstop as a rookie in 1985, and he hit .274/.316/.461 with 16 homers. That was an elite batting performance for a shortstop, but he still lost the NPB Rookie of the Year to Terumitsu Kumano. Murakami crushed a career-high 22 homers with a .267/.282/.483 batting line in 1986, and he was third in homers on his team, behind Dick Davis and Yoshiaki Kanemura.

The Fukuoka native was selected into the 1987 NPB All-Star Game, and he hit a RBI double against Akio Saito in Game 2 after going 0-for-1 in Game 1. Murakami then crushed 2 homers, against Takamasa Suzuki and Kiyooki Nakanishi in Game 3, and he was named the Outstanding Player. He ended up hitting .240/.282/.406 with 13 homers in the 1987 season. Due to his unstable defense, Yasunaga Makishi replaced him at short and he was turned into an outfielder. He hit .248/.310/.513 with 15 homers in 1988

When Kanemura was injured in the beginning of the 1989 season, Murakami replaced him as the third baseman. However, he had a collision with Hidetoshi Hakamada while trying to score, and he fractured his clavicle. Returning in September, Murakami was 2-for-4 as a pinch-hitter in 1989 Nippon Series Game 6, then he crushed a solo shot off Isao Koda in the 5th inning of Game 7. The Buffaloes were still beaten by the Yomiuri Giants. Murakami was plunked by Hirokazu Okada on May 26, 1990, and he fractured his right finger. Although he missed nearly 2 months, he crushed 10 homers with a .327/.389/.569 batting line in 1990.

Murakami hit .262/.296/.505 in 1991, then he blasted 20 homers with a .250/.324/.472 batting line and 15 swipes in 1992. He was 8th in steals (25 behind Makoto Sasaki) and 10th in homers (21 behind Orestes Destrade). He hit .269/.342/.470 in 1993, but he then slumped to .208/.291/.288 in 1994 and Hitoshi Nakane took his spot. He then hit .236/.290/.391 with 8 homers in 1995, and that was his last season to have more than 250 at-bats.

The veteran struggled in 1996, hitting .211/.240/.274 then he bounced back and recorded a .270/.308/.429 batting line in 1997. Murakami batted .262/.298/.477 in 1998, then he mainly stayed in the minor league after hitting .167/.220/.241 in 1999. The Buffaloes traded him to the Seibu Lions for cash after the 2000 season, but he only hit .188/.257/.313 for them then he announced his retirement. He later worked as batting coach for the Chunichi Dragons from 2019 to 2021, and he was named the batting coach for the Fukuoka Softbank Hawks in 2022.

Overall, Murakami hit .258/.308/.450 with 916 hits, 68 steals and 147 homers in 17 seasons in NPB.

Sources

• NPB site
• Wiki Japan
• 1987 NPB All Star Game