Naoki Miyanishi

From BR Bullpen

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Naoki Miyanishi (宮西 尚生)

  • Bats Left, Throws Left
  • Height 5' 11", Weight 165 lb.

BR register page

Biographical Information[edit]

Naoki Miyanishi has pitched in Nippon Pro Baseball and for the Japanese national team.

Miyanishi was 19-13 with a 1.58 ERA in college. He pitched for Japan in the 2006 Asian Games and 2006 Intercontinental Cup, allowing 4 walks, 3 hits and 3 runs in 3 innings in the latter event; he had Japan's worst ERA in the event. The Nippon Ham Fighters drafted him in the 3rd round of 2007 NPB draft, and he soon joined their bullpen as a rookie. He was 2-4 with a 4.37 ERA in 50 games in 2008; as a LOOGY, he totaled 45 1/3 IP for the year. He also ranked 4th in the Pacific League in appearances, 12 behind Tadashi Settsu.

Naoki went 7-2 with a 2.89 ERA in 2009. He struck out 55 in 46 2/3 IP spread out over 58 games with 13 holds, tied for 4th-most in the Pacific League and he ranked 7th in hold points. He then pitched in the first four games of the 2009 Japan Series. Miyanishi pitched a shutout inning in Game 1, then notched a hold as he pitched a shutout inning with two strikeouts against Shinnosuke Abe and Shigeyuki Furuki of the Yomiuri Giants. He had another 1 1/3 shutout innings combined in the next two games, but the Giants still beat the Fighters in 6 games.

The Nishinomiya native broke out and secured the setup man spot of the Fighters in 2010. He notched 23 holds with an elite 1.70 ERA, and pitched a team-leading 61 games. He also ranked 7th in holds (16 behind Brian Falkenborg) and 6th in games pitched (10 behind Settsu). Miyanishi extended his solid pitching in 2011 as he led the Fighters with 61 games played again, and he also notched 14 holds with a 2.21 ERA. He became the first Fighters pitcher to pitch at least 50 games for five consecutive years since his debut, when he reached the mark in 2012. He also collected 39 holds with a solid 2.25 ERA. He ranked 3rd in holds (6 behind Hirotoshi Masui) and 4th in appearances (7 behind Masui). The Fighters advanced to the 2012 Nippon Series, and Miyanishi relieved Toshiharu Moriuchi in the 7th inning in the series opener against the Giants again. However, he couldn't extend his domination from the last series, allowing two hits and a walk to load the bases and John Bowker hit a 2-RBI double. Miyanishi bounced back soon, as he pitched a shutout inning in Game 3 to collect a hold, then struck out all three batters he faced in the 12th inning (Kenji Yano, Yoshitomo Tani and Kazunari Sanematsu) to close the door in Game 4. He notched another hold in Game 6, but the Giants still beat the Fighters again thanks to Abe's clutch RBI single.

Miyanishi set two Pacific League record in 2013, becoming the first player to notch a hold in 12 consecutive games and pitch 50 games for 6 straight seasons since his debut. He collected 30 holds with a 1.74 ERA, ranked 9th in appearances (10 behind Naoya Masuda and 2nd in holds (2 behind Tatsuya Sato). He recorded a 2.16 ERA with 41 holds in 2014, ranked 6th in appearances (5 behind Sato) and 3rd in holds (3 behind Ryota Igarashi). Miyanishi was selected into the 2015 NPB All-Star Game, and he relieved Yuito Mori in the 8th inning in Game 1. He allowed a leadoff double to Ryosuke Kikuchi, then retired Takayuki Kajitani and Yoshihiro Maru. Yuki Matsui then replaced him, but he allowed a RBI triple to Kosuke Tanaka and that run was on Miyanishi. He ended up notching 25 holds with a 2.70 ERA, and ranked 5th in holds (15 behind Tatsushi Masuda). He made it onto Japan's roster for the 2015 Premier 12, but he underwent a left elbow so he was unable to participate.

After recovering from injury, Miyanishi was still that reliable reliever in 2016. He collected a league-leading 39 holds with a 1.52 ERA, and won his first NPB Most Valuable Setup Pitcher Award. In the 2016 Nippon Series, he pitched a shutout inning in Game 3, then relieved Keisuke Tanimoto in Game 4 in the 9th inning. He struck out Ko Shimozuru and retired Tetsuya Kokubo but walked Tsubasa Aizawa. Tanaka and Kikuchi then hit back-to-back singles to load the bases. The Hiroshima Carp needed a hit to rally, but Miyanishi struck out Maru and got the save. The Fighters beat the Carp in 6 games, and he won his first Nippon Series title. He won 41 points and finished 6th in voting for the 2016 Pacific League Most Valuable Player Award behind teammates Shohei Ohtani, Brandon Laird, Sho Nakata, Tsuyoshi Wada and Haruki Nishikawa.

Miyanishi represented Japan in the 2017 World Baseball Classic and won Bronze. He pitched 2 innings combined in 4 games in the event, gave up three hits and a walk but didn't allow any runs and struck out 4. Missing spring training seemed to influence his performance, as his ERA rose to 3.32 in 51 games. Miyanishi still collected 25 holds and ranked 7th in holds (15 behind Sho Iwasaki). He bounced back in 2018 and won his second Most Valuable Setup Pitcher Award as he collected a PL-leading 37 holds with a 1.80 ERA. He was also selected into the 2018 NPB All-Star Game, and he relieved Mike Bolsinger in the 6th inning in Game 1. Yoshitomo Tsutsugo hit a leadoff single, and Miyanishi retired the next three batters (Ryosuke Hirata, Yoshio Itoi and Kento Itohara) to get the win. He broke NPB records held by Tetsuya Yamaguchi previously - 274 career holds and 324 hold points. He also received a 2nd-place vote in the 2018 Pacific League Most Valuable Player Award and finished 12th between Tomoya Mori and Takayuki Kishi.

The record holder attended the All-Star Game again in the next summer, and he relieved his teammate Kohei Arihara in the 5th inning. He struck out Munetaka Murakami, forced Yuhei Nakamura to foul out then added another strikeout against Tetsuto Yamada; Matsui relieved him. He became the first pitcher to collect 300 holds when he reached the mark on April 13, and won his third Most Valuable Setup Pitcher Award; he was the first (and through 2023, only) PL hurler to win this award three times. He notched 43 holds with a 1.71 ERA in 2019 and led the PL in holds. Miyanishi was the first pitcher to pitch 700 games as a reliever (with no starts), getting there in 2020, and also became the first reliever to reach 350 holds. He replaced Ryo Akiyoshi to serve as closer in September, and ended up collecting 21 holds and 8 saves with a 2.05 ERA. He received a 3rd-place vote in the 2020 Pacific League Most Valuable Player Award and shared 20th place with 7 players in the voting.

Miyanishi slumped to a 3.65 ERA in 50 games in 2021, but he still collected 21 holds. He struggled again in 2022 as his ERA rose to 5.66, and he only pitched 24 games. He was unable to break Hitoki Iwase's record for pitching 50 games for 15 consecutive years, but his 14 consecutive seasons record was still the longest run by a PL pitcher. The veteran bounced back and got 13 holds with a 2.66 ERA in 31 games in 2023.

Through 2023, Miyanishi was 37-40 with a 2.51 ERA, 393 holds and 13 saves. He has struck out 646 and pitched 706 2/3 innings in 16 years in NPB. He holds the NPB record for most career holds, and he is widely considered the best middle-inning reliever in Japanese Baseball ever.

Sources[edit]

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