Masahiko Morino

Masahiko Morino
Chūnichi Dragons - No. 30
Infielder, outfielder
Born: July 28, 1978 in Yokohama , Kanagawa Prefecture
Strikes: Left	Throws: Right
Debut in the Nippon Pro Yakyū
June 24,  1997  with the Chūnichi Dragons
NPB statistics (up to 2011)
Batting average	, 279
Hits	1,111
Home runs	129
RBI	569
Teams
Chūnichi Dragons (since 1997)

Masahiko Morino ( Japanese 森 野 将 彦 , Morino Masahiko ; born July 28, 1978 in Yokohama , Kanagawa Prefecture ) is a Japanese baseball player who has played mainly as an infielder for the Chūnichi Dragons in the Japanese Central League since 1997 . With the national team he took part in the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing .

Morino attended the Sagami High School of Tōkai University in Sagamihara , with which he took part in the spring Kōshien in 1995 and dropped out in the second round. In the 1996 draft , he was selected in the second round by the Chūnichi Dragons. He made his debut in the first team in 1997, when he was used in 13 games. Then he was only used in the first team again from 2000, from 2002 he was more regular in the lineup. Defensively, he often played as a shortstop at first, then as a first or second baseman; since 2005 he has been used mainly as a third baseman, in 2007 and 2008 he mainly played as an outfielder.

2007 Morino played in 142 games for the Dragons, in which he scored a batting average of .294, was first elected to the All-Star team of the Central League and celebrated in the Nippon Series 2007 (4-1 against Nippon Ham ) with Chunichi the second championship title in team history after 1954. In 2008 he sustained an injury in spring training and only made 96 appearances, but achieved a batting average of .321. In the summer he took part in the Olympic tournament with the national team, struck badly with 2 hits against the Netherlands in a total of 17 at-bats in the tournament, when he lost to the United States in the bronze medal match, his brief stint as a pinch hitter ended with a strikeout .

In 2009 and 2010 Morino was in all 144 regular season games and scored the most doubles in the Central League in both years. In 2010 he again took part in the All-Star Game and was included in the Best Nine for the first time . In 2011 he hit with an average of .232 - albeit like the entire Chūnichi offensive - significantly weaker than in previous years. In April 2011 Morino scored the 1000th hit of his career against the Hanshin Tigers.

Web links

• Chūnichi Dragons : player profile, statistics (Japanese)
• Masahiko Morino in the Sports-Reference database (English; archived from the original )
• Nippon Yakyū Kikō / Nippon Professional Baseball: Player Statistics