Drafted in, Nakamura began to emerge as one of the leading power hitters in Nippon Professional Baseball in. From to, he had six consecutive 40-home run, 100-RBI seasons, setting career highs in batting average homers and RBI in.
2002–2005: Dalliances with MLB
In, he agreed to a two-year, $7 million contract with the New York Mets, but, after word leaked out before he could formally notify the Osaka Kintetsu Buffaloes management, Nakamura rejected the deal, saying that "I cannot trust such a team which leaked this information at its own Web site", and re-signed with Kintetsu over considerable controversy. In, he suffered a torn knee cartilage, and his offensive numbers began to decline. However, he hit well while participating in a spring trainingexchange program with the Los Angeles Dodgers in. In, Nakamura walked away from a guaranteed $10 million two-year contract in Japan to sign a $500,000 non-guaranteed minor league deal with the Dodgers as a non-roster invitee to spring training. He made his Major League Baseball debut for the Dodgers on April 10,. Highly touted from his playing days in Japan, he received the opportunity to win the Dodgers starting third base role after the Dodgers lost their starting third baseman, Adrián Beltré, to free agency in the offseason. However, Nakamura managed only a.128 batting average with no home runs and 3 runs batted in. He was optioned to the Las Vegas 51s, the Dodgers Triple-A affiliate, by mid-May. He would remain with the 51s the remainder of the season, after which the Dodgers granted him his release. Just after being released, he said "If Ichiro had started his career under minor contract like me, he couldn't be called up to Major League","This year is a kind of penalties for me", and "I don't know why I played in minor league".
He signed a one-year deal for just 4,000,000 yen as a trainee with the Chunichi Dragons on February 25,. He signed a one-year deal for 6,000,000 yen as a player on March 22, 2007. His annual income declined due to many troubles, but he got over the shock and was crowned the MVP of the 2007 Japan Series, the only NPB championship of his career.
He originally anticipated becoming a first baseman in to fill the place of Tyrone Woods, who left the Dragons after the season. However, he declared himself a free agent and later signed with the Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles after the season ended.
