Carlos Mirabal

From BR Bullpen

Carlos Mirabal crop.jpg

Carlos Mirabal

  • Bats Both, Throws Right
  • Height 6' 2", Weight 193 lb.

BR Minors page

Biographical Information[edit]

Carlos Mirabal spent almost his entire career in Asia.

After college, Mirabal signed with the 1996 Altoona Rail Kings; he went 7-7 with a 4.92 ERA. He would be out of the US for the next nine years. In '97, he signed with the Taiwan Major League's Chia-nan Luka club and posted a 12-7, 3.69 record with three saves as a solid #3 starter behind Yi-Hsin Chen and Tim Mauser for the TML champions. In 1998, Mirabal went 12-12 with a save and a 3.12 ERA, 6th in the TML in ERA between Ping-Yang Huang and Linc Mikkelsen.

Switching to the Chinese Professional Baseball League for 1999, Mirabal was even better, going 2-1 with 13 saves, a WHIP under 1 and a 1.87 ERA for the China Trust Whales. He led the CPBL in ERA, .50 ahead of Don Lemon. He sent Japan's Nippon Ham Fighters a video of himself and the club was intrigued enough to sign the New Jersey native.

The right-hander was installed as Nippon Ham's closer in 2000, going 1-3 with 19 saves, a 3.65 ERA and .225 opponent average. He fell to 2-6 with a .284 opponent average in 2001 but saved 18 games and his ERA dropped to 3.44. He was moved to the rotation in 2002. On April 10, he threw a perfect game for eight innings against the Chiba Lotte Marines before Kenji Yoshitsuru broke it up with a single. For the season, he had a 9-6, 3.37 record. Had he qualified, he would have been 7th in the Pacific League in ERA, between teammates Satoru Kanemura and Itsuki Shoda.

Carlos was a workhorse in 2003, going 16-11. He allowed 232 hits, 27 homers and 115 runs (100 earned) in 193 2/3 IP for a 4.65 ERA and .312 opponent average. He still finished five games over .500 on a team that was 12 games under. He ranked among the PL leaders in wins (tied with Daisuke Matsuzaka for second behind Kazumi Saitoh), losses (4th), innings (6th), homers allowed (2nd), walks allowed (2nd, 74, 4 behind Mac Suzuki), runs allowed (1st), earned runs allowed (1st) and batters faced (859, 1st).

Mirabal was 11-9 with a 4.82 ERA for the 2004 Fighters. He tied Nagisa Arakaki for fourth in the league in wins, was 6th innings (160 2/3), tied for third in losses, was second in hits allowed (183, 7 behind Kevin Beirne), tied Dae-sung Koo for the most homers allowed (24), tied for the most hit batsmen (13) and was second to Saitoh in both runs allowed and earned runs allowed. The right-hander hurt his shoulder in 2005 and was just 0-3 with a 7.71 ERA when the Fighters released him.

Carlos returned to his native New Jersey for three last years with the Newark Bears. He was 4-6 with a 5.71 ERA in 2006, 8-8 with a 4.78 ERA in 2007 and 3-2 with a 7.31 ERA in 2008.

Overall, Mirabal was 39-28 with 37 saves and a 4.32 ERA in 180 games in Nippon Pro Baseball, 26-20 with 17 saves and a 3.09 ERA in 112 games in Taiwan's two top leagues and 22-23 with a 5.37 ERA in 70 games in the US minors.

He later coached for the Rockland Boulders and the Cologne Cardinals.

Sources[edit]