Japanese college baseball player draws attention for his unique approach

A Japanese college baseball player is drawing attention for his unique approach at the plate.

Rikuu Nishida is a junior second baseman and in his first season with the Oregon Ducks. The Ducks swept a 4-game series with San Diego over the weekend. In Sunday’s game, Nishida hit an opposite field home run to make it 1-0 in the first. The homer was the first of Nishida’s career.

Take a look at the homer and also try to listen to the at-bat.

B1 | 𝐒𝐚𝐲𝐨𝐧𝐚𝐫𝐚!@A5D0l gives the Ducks the early lead with a solo tater to the opposite field. #GoDucks

San Diego 0
Oregon 1 pic.twitter.com/huganioHjK

— Oregon Duck Baseball (@OregonBaseball) March 5, 2023

If that sounded a lot more like a crack of the bat rather than the traditional college “ping,” that’s for a good reason. What’s unique about Nishida is that the junior college transfer uses a wood bat at the plate rather than the usual metal bat that nearly all college baseball players use.

Many college baseball fans took note of the wood bat being used by Nishida and were surprised.

First time we’ve ever seen someone gaming a wood bat in D1 college baseball @A5D0l pic.twitter.com/Dn7N5qAPKd

— The Baseball Bat Bros (@baseballbatbros) March 6, 2023

Wood bats are generally inferior to metal bats, which provide more power and usually don’t break/crack the way wood bats do. That’s why it’s surprising to see someone use a wood bat by choice.

For a college junior to hit an opposite field home run with a wood bat shows a lot of power. It’s even more impressive when it comes from a second baseman who is listed at 5-foot-6 and 150 pounds.

Nishida is from Osaka, Japan and played high school ball at Tohoku High School, which is the same school Padres ace Yu Darvish attended.

Prior to transferring to Oregon, Nishida was a two-time All-America selection from Mt. Hood Community College. He also starred over the summer last year for the Hyannis Harbor Hawks in the Cape Cod league.

Nishida is batting .250 this season and leading the Ducks with 10 runs scored and nine stolen bases in 11 games. He’s highly regarded for his bat-to-ball skills and has twice as many walks (6) as strikeouts (3).

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