Ricardo Kirihara

Ricardo Akihiro Kirihara

• School Universidade de Sao Paulo

• Born July 31, 1987

Biographical Information

Ricardo Kirihara played two games for the Brazilian national team that won the 2016 South American Championship. He relieved Claudio Matumoto Jr. with a shutout in progress against Peru and threw two shutout innings (1 H, 1 BB, 1 K) before Guilherme Domingues relieved. He played the second game against Bolivia, going 1 for 2 with a walk and a run and handling one assist. In the 2018 South American Championship, he was Brazil's starting third baseman and also played short. He hit .385/.619/.462 with 5 walks and 5 runs in Brazil's 6 games. He tied for 7th in the event in runs, tied Sebastián García and Daniel Catalan for the most walks and tied García for the most times plunked (3). He was second in the event in OBP, only .006 behind leader (and teammate) Felipe Burin. In the Gold Medal Game (with a spot in the 2019 Pan American Games at stake), he was 0 for 2 with a walk against Argentina's Diego Echeverría in a loss.