Masahiro Araki (荒木雅博) (born September 13, 1977 in Kumamoto, Japan) is a Japanese professional baseball player. He currently is the second baseman for the Chunichi Dragons. He is noted for his speed and defense. Going into the 2017 season, Araki has a good chance of reaching 2000 hits and joining the Meikyukai.

Araki was a first-round draft pick by Chunichi in 1995, out of high school. In 1997, he made his NPB debut and hit .179/.203/.209 in 74 plate appearances; he did steal 12 bases in 16 tries to lead his team. Araki was used as a defensive substitute in the outfield and at shortstop.

In 1998, the 20-year-old played 7 games for Chunichi but had just one at-bat, appearing as a pinch-runner and defensive sub. The next year, he went 1 for 4 in 16 games in a similar role; in four steal attempts, he was only successful once. In 2000, Araki remained a substitute, playing 40 games but only getting 12 plate appearances (2 for 10, 2 sacrifice flies, 3 SB in 3 tries). He spent 34 games in the outfield.

Araki became a semi-regular in 2001 and produced at a .338/.384/.438 clip with 13 steals and 9 times caught stealing. He backed up veteran Kazuyoshi Tatsunami at second base. In 2002, Tatsunami moved to third so Araki could take over at second. He batted .259/.279/.296 and stole 16 bases in 20 attempts. He fielded .986 and led Chunichi in steals. In 2003, the speedster hit .237/.283/.314 with 15 steals in 24 attempts. He fielded .990 and again led the Dragons in swipes.

Araki improved significantly in 2004, batting .292/.322/.349, stealing 39 bases in 48 tries and scored 93 runs. He replaced Hirokazu Ibata at the top of the Dragons batting order, Ibata dropping to second to form a swift 1-2 punch. He fielded .992 and won his first Gold Glove. He was second in the Central League in steals behind Norihiro Akahoshi and tied Toshihisa Nishi for third in hits (176). He made his first All-Star team. That year, Araki and Greg LaRocca tied for the CL Best Nine at second base; it was the first tie ever in voting for a Best Nine in NPB history. He hit .267/.333/.433 in the 2004 Japan Series as Chunichi fell in 7 games.

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