Munetaka Murakami did not set a home run record this season, but the 22-year-old phenomenon’s season was, by one measure, the best offensive year of any player in the history of Japanese pro baseball, and NPB’s best season since Hall of Fame pitcher Kazuhisa Inao’s astonishing 1961 campaign for the Nishitetsu Lions.
Bill James’ Win Shares credited Murakami with contributing 16 wins to the Swallows’ ledger for a total of 48 win shares, surpassing ever so slightly the previous high, catcher Katsuya Nomura’s 1965 season.
NPB’s top-20 seasons
The top 20 individual seasons in NPB history, given by position, Offensive Win Shares, Fielding Win Shares, Pitching Win Shares, and Total Win Shares. The list is dominated by pitchers from japan’s dead-ball era, particularly two-way star and Hall of Famer Jiro Noguchi.
An excel file download of the win share values for every player from the 1936 autumn season to the present is available to paid subscribers.
| Season | League | Team | Name R | Name J | Pos | Off WS | Fld WS | P WS | WS Float |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1942 | 1L | Taiyo | Jiro Noguchi | 野口 二郎 | 1 | 3.4 | 0.9 | 58.8 | 63.1 |
| 1939 | 1L | Senators | Jiro Noguchi | 野口 二郎 | 1 | 7.9 | 1.0 | 46 | 54.8 |
| 1940 | 1L | Tsubasa | Jiro Noguchi | 野口 二郎 | 1 | 10.1 | 0.9 | 42 | 53.1 |
| 1942 | 1L | Asahi | Yasuo Hayashi | 林 安夫 | 1 | 4.1 | 0.0 | 46.7 | 50.8 |
| 1961 | PL | Lions | Kazuhisa Inao | 稲尾 和久 | 1 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 49.9 | 49.9 |
| 1959 | PL | Hawks | Tadashi Sugiura | 杉浦 忠 | 1 | 0.3 | 0.0 | 49.1 | 49.5 |
| 1954 | CL | Dragons | Shigeru Sugishita | 杉下 茂 | 1 | 1.3 | 0.0 | 47.8 | 49.1 |
| 1950 | CL | Robins | Jyuzo Sanada | 真田 重男 | 1 | 5.7 | 0.0 | 43 | 48.7 |
| 1946 | 1L | Senators | Giichiro Shiraki | 白木 義一郎 | 1 | 6.5 | 0.5 | 41.2 | 48.2 |
| 2022 | CL | Swallows | Munetaka Murakami | 村上 宗隆 | 5 | 44.6 | 3.6 | 0.0 | 48.2 |
| 1965 | PL | Hawks | Katsuya Nomura | 野村 克也 | 2 | 42.8 | 5.0 | 0.0 | 47.8 |
| 1965 | CL | Giants | Sadaharu Oh | 王 貞治 | 3 | 45.2 | 2.0 | 0.0 | 47.2 |
| 1973 | CL | Giants | Sadaharu Oh | 王 貞治 | 3 | 45.2 | 1.8 | 0.0 | 47.2 |
| 1958 | CL | Swallows | Masaichi Kaneda | 金田 正一 | 1 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 46.3 | 46.3 |
| 1940 | 1L | Kyojin | Viktor Starffin | 須田 博 | 1 | 2.2 | 0.0 | 44.0 | 46.1 |
| 1958 | PL | Lions | Kazuhisa Inao | 稲尾 和久 | 1 | 2.2 | 0.0 | 43.4 | 45.6 |
| 1961 | CL | Giants | Shigeo Nagashima | 長嶋 茂雄 | 5 | 40.3 | 4.9 | 0.0 | 45.2 |
| 1961 | CL | Dragons | Hiroshi Gondo | 権藤 博 | 1 | 0.0 | 0 | 45.2 | 45.2 |
| 1959 | PL | Lions | Kazuhisa Inao | 稲尾 和久 | 1 | 0.1 | 0 | 44.9 | 45.0 |
| 1962 | CL | Tigers | Minoru Maruyama | 村山 実 | 1 | 0.0 | 0 | 44.9 | 44.9 |
Sadaharu Oh had two 47 win share seasons in 1965 and 1973, but according to these calculations, Murakami’s was the best total by a position player ever.
But because seasons have varied so much in length, the record for win production per game by a position player probably goes to Yomiuri’s Taiwan-born outfielder Shosei Go, who produced 34 win shares in an 84-game 1943 season. Japan’s original two-way star, the Tigers’ Masaru Kageura, also might be No. 1, although his value was evenly split in the spring of 1937 between the outfield and the mound.
Prorating it by season length, Murakami’s 2022 season comes out ninth best in history and is the best since Oh’s 1974 season.
Today’s game is different, however. Pitchers are no longer able to throw as much or as often. A look at the best 20 seasons, ranked by win shares per team game, shows 20 position players.
The best since 1980
| Season | Team | Name R | Pos | Off WS | Fielding WS | Total WS Float |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | Swallows | Munetaka Murakami | 5 | 44.6 | 3.6 | 48.2 |
| 2020 | Hawks | Yuki Yanagita | 7 | 33.3 | 3.6 | 37.0 |
| 1986 | Tigers | Randy Bass | 3 | 37.8 | 1.2 | 39.1 |
| 1995 | BlueWave | Ichiro Suzuki | 8 | 34.8 | 4.3 | 39.1 |
| 2015 | Swallows | Tetsuto Yamada | 4 | 35.3 | 7.3 | 42.5 |
| 2015 | Hawks | Yuki Yanagita | 7 | 39.1 | 3.7 | 42.8 |
| 1985 | Orions | Hiromitsu Ochiai | 5 | 34.5 | 3.7 | 38.3 |
| 1996 | BlueWave | Ichiro Suzuki | 9 | 32.5 | 3.5 | 36.1 |
| 2002 | Buffaloes | Norihiro Nakamura | 5 | 34.2 | 4.0 | 38.2 |
| 2002 | Lions | Kazuo Matsui | 6 | 29.9 | 7.4 | 37.3 |
| 1980 | Carp | Koji Yamamoto | 8 | 29.9 | 5.8 | 35.7 |
| 2001 | Giants | Hideki Matsui | 7 | 35.2 | 1.8 | 37.0 |
| 2001 | Buffaloes | Tuffy Rhodes | 7 | 34.8 | 1.9 | 36.6 |
| 2002 | Giants | Hideki Matsui | 7 | 32.9 | 3.1 | 36.0 |
| 2006 | Dragons | Kosuke Fukudome | 9 | 33.5 | 3.8 | 37.3 |
| 1982 | Tigers | Masayuki Kakefu | 5 | 29.4 | 4.3 | 33.7 |
| 2012 | Giants | Shinnosuke Abe | 2 | 32.6 | 5.1 | 37.7 |
| 2018 | Hawks | Yuki Yanagita | 7 | 34.1 | 3.3 | 37.4 |
| 1993 | Tigers | Tom O'Malley | 3 | 30.6 | 1.8 | 32.4 |
| 1993 | Swallows | Atsuya Furuta | 2 | 21.3 | 11.9 | 33.2 |
The best pitching seasons since 1980
And ranked by win shares per team game, the best 20 pitching seasons since 1980. Note there’s a huge 18-year gap between Shinji Sasaoka’s 1993 season with the Dragons, and the next season in the best 20, Masahiro Tanaka’s 2011 season. That span marked a period of increasingly lively baseballs. Shohei Ohtani, is an outlier. Win Shares credits most of his 2016 value to his hitting, but his pitching gets him on the list
