is a Japanese former

professional baseball Professional baseball is organized baseball in which players are selected for their talents and are paid to play for a specific team or club system. It is played in baseball league, leagues and associated farm teams throughout the world. Moder ...

outfielder An outfielder is a person playing in one of the three defensive positions in baseball or softball, farthest from the batter. These defenders are the left fielder, the center fielder, and the right fielder. As an outfielder, their duty is to catch ...

, and current the fourth squad hitting coach for the

Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks The are a Japanese professional baseball team based in Fukuoka, Fukuoka Prefecture. They compete in Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB) as a member of the Pacific League. Founded on February 22, 1938, as the Nankai Club, being the first Kansai t ...

Nippon Professional Baseball is a professional baseball league and the highest level of baseball in Japan. Locally, it is often called , meaning simply ''Professional Baseball''; outside of Japan, NPB is often referred to as "Japanese baseball". The roots of the league ...

(NPB). He played as an outfielder for the

Hiroshima Toyo Carp The is a professional baseball team based in Hiroshima, Japan. They compete in the Central League of Nippon Professional Baseball. The team is primarily owned by the Matsuda family, led by , who is a descendant of Mazda founder Jujiro Matsuda ...

and the Yokohama BayStars.

Active player era

On November 20, 1998, Morikasa was drafted fourth overall by the Hiroshima Toyo Carp in the 1998 Nippon Professional Baseball draft. In 1999 season, he debuted in the Central League in his rookie year, playing in 29 games. He was active during the 2003 season, hitting two

home run In baseball, a home run (abbreviated HR) is scored when the Baseball (ball), ball is hit in such a way that the batting (baseball), batter is able to circle the bases and reach home plate safe (baseball), safely in one play without any error ( ...

s in one game, and played in 117 games, the most of his career. He played 10 seasons with the Hiroshima Toyo Carp before moving to the Yokohama BayStars for the 2009 season, where he played two seasons before retiring. Morikasa has played in 840 games over his 12-season career,

batting average Batting average is a statistic in cricket, baseball, and softball that measures the performance of batters. The development of the baseball statistic was influenced by the cricket statistic. Cricket In cricket, a player's batting average is ...

.264 with 412 hits, 21 home runs, and 125 RBI.

After retirement

After his retirement, Morikasa was appointed as the Hiroshima Toyo Carp's third squad fielding coach for the 2011 season. He served as the third squad fielding coach and second squad hitting coach from the 2011 season through the 2022 season. He serve as the fourth squad hitting coach for the

since the 2023 season.

References

External links

*
Career statistics - NPB.jp

- Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks Official site 1976 births Living people Baseball people from Kanagawa Prefecture Japanese baseball players Nippon Professional Baseball outfielders Hiroshima Toyo Carp players Yokohama BayStars players Japanese baseball coaches Nippon Professional Baseball coaches Sportspeople from Yokosuka, Kanagawa {{Japan-baseball-outfielder-stub