Kazuhiko Miyaji

Kazuhiko Miyaji (宮地 克彦)

• Bats Left, Throws Left
• Height 5' 8", Weight 165 lb.

• High School Jinsei Gakuen High School

• Born August 28, 1971 in Daito, Osaka Japan

BR register page

Biographical Information

Kazuhiko Miyaji has played in Nippon Pro Baseball.

Miyagi was drafted by the Seibu Lions in the fourth round of the 1989 NPB draft. He debuted on April 4, 1994, and collected his first hit off Satoru Komiyama on August 29, 1995. He won the batting title of the Eastern League in the 1998 season, but still couldn't get many at-bats in the Japanese major leagues. In 2000, Miyaji became the second batter in the Pacific League to hit a leadoff inside-the-park-homerun, on September 2. The Osaka native finally became the main platoon outfielder for righties in 2002, hitting .267/.311/.348 and playing a career-high 100 games. However, he hurt his knee seriously in the next year, and the Lions released him after the 2003 season.

The Fukuoka Daiei Hawks picked Miyagi up, and he batted .310/.349/.385 in 252 at-bats. The 34-year-old Miyaji amazingly had a career-year in 2005. He was selected into the 2005 NPB All-Star Game, and started as centerfielder in Game 1. He was retired by Koji Uehara in the 2nd and Shugo Fujii in the 4th inning, and walked by Kyuji Fujikawa in the 7th inning. He replaced Matt Franco late in Game 2, then was retired by Fujikawa in the 9th inning. Miyagi recorded a 311/.361/.391 batting line in this season, and won the Best Nine award as an outfielder. He ranked 8th in batting average in this year. Miyaji only recorded a .155/.210/.169 batting line in 2006, and suffered a serious right hand injury. The Hawks released him after the 2006 season, which ended his professional career. Miyagi then served as hitting coach for the Lions from 2014 to 2016.

Overall, Miyaji had hit .275/.323/.354 in 11 seasons in NPB.