Yoshinori Murata

1993 Yomiuri Giants draft class, Yoshinori Murata pictured on the far left

Yoshinori Murata (村田 善則) (Shokichi)

• Bats Right, Throws Right
• Height 5' 9", Weight 175 lb.

• High School Sasebo Jitsugyo High School

• Born April 24, 1974 in Sasebo, Nagasaki Japan

BR Register page

Biographical Information

Yoshinori Murata played and coached on Nippon Pro Baseball.

Murata was a fifth-round pick of the Yomiuri Giants in the 1992 NPB draft. He made it to the big club in 1995, going 0 for 2. In 1997, he got his first hit (off Toshiro Yufune) and finished at .152/.220/.152 in 50 plate appearances, as Yomiuri's #5 catcher. The most-used one was another Murata, Shinichi Murata. Yoshinori was 0 for 1 with the Giants in 1998 and hit .236/.288/.309 in 59 plate appearances in 1999, backing up Shinichi Murata and Hidekazu Mitsuyama. He hit his first NPB homer, off Toshikazu Sawazaki.

In 2000, he set career highs in games (76), at-bats (153), runs (14), hits (41), doubles (6), homers (3), RBI (13) and OPS (hitting .268/.317/.366). He was a frequent personal catcher for Kimiyasu Kudoh. The Giants' top two catchers were both Muratas, as Shinichi Murata remained the starter. Yoshinori was 1 for 3 when Yomiuri won the 2000 Japan Series. He fell to 1-for-7 in 2001 then hit .228/.279/.316 in 63 plate appearances in 2002 with his lone career triple. By this point, Shinnosuke Abe was the starting backstop for Yomiuri, a position he would hold for many years. Murata did not appear in Yomiuri's 2002 Japan Series win.

The Sasebo native hit .148/.235/.200 in 58 games in 2003, his second-most-active season, as the primary backup to Abe. He improved his batting line to .261/.277/.348 in 23 games in 2004. He batted .245/.293/.296 in 2005, playing error-free defense as Abe's most-used sub (32 G). His playing time dropped significantly from there - he was 1 for 16 in 2006, did not bat in one game in 2007 and was 0 for 4 with a walk in 2008 to end his career at .213/.268/.277 in 302 games in the Central League.

He later became a scorer and then a coach for the Giants. He coached for the Japanese national team in the 2017 World Baseball Classic , 2018 Nichi-Bei Series, 2019 Premier 12 , 2020 Olympics (Gold Medal) and 2023 World Baseball Classic .