Hugo Kanabushi

Hugo Kanabushi (金伏ウーゴ)

• Bats Left, Throws Left
• Height 5' 11", Weight 187 lb.

• School Hakuoh University
• High School Sano Nihon University High School

• Born May 22, 1989 in Maringá, Paraná Brazil

BR register page

Biographical Information

Hugo Kanabushi has pitched in Nippon Pro Baseball.

Born and raised in Brazil, Kanabushi (who was of Japanese descent) came to Japan to play high school baseball. After college, he was drafted by the Yakult Swallows with their final pick of the 2011 NPB draft. He spent most of 2012 in ni-gun, coming up to the Swallows for one game on October 3. He pitched poorly, walking four batters, retiring two and allowing a run.

He then made the Brazilian national team roster for the 2013 World Baseball Classic Qualifiers but did not get into a game as they won a spot in the Classic. In the 2013 World Baseball Classic, he retired one batter in the first game he played. In the second, he relieved Thyago Vieira in the bottom of the 8th with two outs, the bases loaded and a 3-2 deficit against the Chinese national team but he walked both Zhenhong Lu and Weiqiang Meng to force in runs before Daniel Missaki relieved.

Kanabushi was 2-0 with a 3.86 ERA for the Swallows in the minor leagues in 2013. He then missed time with Tommy John surgery. In '15, he was 0-2 with a 3.47 ERA on the farm and returned to NPB briefly but again struggled (4 H, 1 BB, 4 R in 1 IP) in his only game. He was back on Brazil's entry for the 2017 World Baseball Classic Qualifiers, relieving Felipe Sales with two on and two outs in the bottom of the 8th with a 1-0 deficit against Israel. He retired former major leaguer Ike Davis on a pop-up but Brazil did not score in the 9th and Kanabushi did not pitch in their last qualifier game.

His fastball has peaked at 92 mph.

Sources include Japanese Wikipedia, World Baseball Classic, NPB website