Shuta Tanaka was born in Yokohama, Kanagawa, Japan and lived there until his elementary school days.

He moved to Kitakyushu, Fukuoka because his father Hisayuki became the manager of Nissan Kyushu Baseball Team.

He played in the 66th National High School Baseball Invitational Tournament held in 1994, then was drafted by the Hanshin Tigers at 3rd.

He could not play in the major level in 2009 and announced on September 18 that he decided to retire the player in August with consultations with his family and Atsushi Kataoka.

His last play was the Western League game against the Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks at Hanshin Koshien Stadium on September 23, in which he got 2 hits.