Tatsuhiro Tamura

Tatsuhiro Tamura (田村 龍弘)

• Bats Right, Throws Right
• Height 5' 8", Weight 169 lb.

• High School Kosei Gakuin High School

• Born May 13, 1994 in Osaka Sayama, Osaka Japan

BR register page

Biographical Information

Tatsuhiro Tamura has caught in Nippon Pro Baseball.

Tamura represented Japan in the 2012 World Junior Championship, hitting .364/.463/.364 with 7 walks in 9 games, starting at third base. He tied for 4th in walks, behind Jacob Robson, Aaron Sayers and Reese McGuire. The Chiba Lotte Marines drafted him in the third round of the 2012 NPB draft. He spent his rookie year in the NPB Farm Leagues, and debuted with the big club on July 14, 2013. He collected his first Pacific League hit off Ryota Igarashi on the next day. Tamura played 48 games, the second-most among the Marines for a catcher in 2014. Although he only batted .156/.223/.203, his CS% was elite 41.2%. In the 2015 season, Tamura secured the starting catcher spot for the Marines. Even though his batting line was still a terrible .170/.251/.230, he was still productive with his outstanding defense, recorded a league-leading 42.9 CS%.

Tamura finally broke out in 2016. Replacing Ginjiro Sumitani in Game 1 of the 2016 NPB All-Star Game, and hit a RBI single off Scott Mathieson in the 8th inning. In Game 2, he started as a catcher but was retired twice by Yuta Iwasada in the 3th and Shoichi Ino in the 5th inning. He ended up hitting .256/.324/.332 and won the Best Nine award for the first time in his career. In 2017 NPB All-Star Game 1, Tamura replaced Motohiro Shima in the 8th inning and retired by Yasuaki Yamasaki In Game 2, he started as a catcher but struck out by Tomoyuki Sugano in the 2nd and retired by Shoichi Ino in the 5th inning. Motohiro Shima replaced him in the 7th inning. Tamura recorded a .248/.304/.334 batting line in this season. In 2018 season, Tamura had a perfect attendance as a catcher. He was the first catcher in team history to do it since Takeo Daigo in 1969. He hit .239/.309/.328 in this year. The Sayama native batted .243/.294/.324 in 2019, and recorded a .217/.295/.310 batting line in the next year. He fractured his right index finger on September, and missed nearly the entire month. Tamura had a right knee strain and missed May and June in 2021. After coming back, he shared the catcher spot with Takuma Kato. He ended up playing 72 games, the least since the 2014 season with a .235/.316/.301 batting line. Because rookie Kou Matsukawa shined in 2022, Tamura spent nearly entire season in the minor Eastern League.