Kazuto Nonaka (Japanese: 野中寿人, born June 6, 1961) is a Japanese baseball coach and promoter. He has managed the Indonesia national baseball team and is currently the manager of the Pakistan national baseball team, which he skippered at the 2025 Asian Baseball Championship.
| Kazuto Nonaka | |||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Manager | |||||||||||||||
| Born: May 12, 1961 Ōta, Tokyo, Japan | |||||||||||||||
Bats: Unknown Throws: Unknown | |||||||||||||||
Medals
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Nonaka played with Third Junior & Senior High School of Nihon University as a catcher at the 1979 Summer Koshien tournament. Despite offers from professional baseball teams, he chose to attend university. Despite wishing to attend Meiji University, he was pressured to enroll at Nihon University. He dropped out six months later.[1] He worked outside of baseball in Japan and the Philippines before moving to Indonesia in 2001, where he ran a tourism business.[2]
Nonaka began coaching youth baseball in Bali, and his work eventually earned him appointment as the manager of the Indonesian national baseball team.[2] He steered Indonesia at the 2009 Asian Baseball Championship, its first appearance at the top level of baseball competition in Asia.[3][4][5] He managed the Sri Lanka national baseball team at the 2019 West Asia Baseball Cup, winning the gold, and the 2023 West Asia Baseball Cup.[6] He also coached Sri Lanka to a semifinals berth at the Baseball United Arab Classic, held in Dubai in 2024.[7]
Nonaka helped found the Saga Asian Dreams, a minor league team playing in Japan's Kyushu Asia League. His vision for the team was to sign emerging talents from Indonesia, Sri Lanka, Singapore, and other Asian countries where baseball is a developing sport.[2][5]
In July 2025, Pakistan Federation Baseball announced that it had hired Nonaka as manager for the Pakistan at the 2025 Asian Baseball Championship. Nonaka's experience with Saga Asian Dreams, and its two Pakistani pitchers, Faisal Hayat and Musharaf Khan, was cited as a factor in the appointment.[8]
References
edit- ↑ "【人と世界 ｍａｎｕｓｉａ ｄａｎ ｄｕｎｉａ】イ野球の歴史変えた 野中寿人さん" (in Japanese). The Daily Jakarta Shimbun. 29 September 2013. Retrieved 6 December 2025.
- 1 2 3 "Saga: Southeast Asian Players Join Pro Baseball Team in Japan; Athletes Come from Indonesia, Sri Lanka, Singapore". Japan News. 14 June 2024. Retrieved 6 December 2025.
- ↑ "Japanese backing sends Indonesian teams global". SportsPro. 1 July 2009. Retrieved 6 December 2025.
- ↑ "RI heads into Asian baseball finals eyeing Asian Games spot". Jakarta Post. 3 June 2009. Retrieved 6 December 2025.
- 1 2 "「野球を世界へ」インドネシアにプロ球団構想！ 佐賀県の自治体の協力得ながら九州アジアリーグへの参戦目指す". Nishinippon Sports. 21 April 2023. Retrieved 6 December 2025.
- ↑ "Defending West Asian baseball champions to take flight to Pakistan". The Morning. 26 January 2023. Retrieved 6 December 2025.
- ↑ "ARAB classic බේස්බෝල් තරගාවලියට ශ්රී ලංකා කණ්ඩායම ඩුබායි යයි" (in Sinhala). Lanka News Web. 6 November 2024. Retrieved 6 December 2025.
- ↑ Imran, Sohail (17 July 2025). "PBF appoints Japanese coach Kazuto Nonaka ahead of Asian Baseball Championship". Geo Super. Retrieved 6 December 2025.
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