Rodrigo Miyamoto

Rodrigo Miyamoto Watanabe

• Bats Right, Throws Right
• Height 5' 10", Weight 192 lb.

• Born February 16, 1981 in São Paulo Brazil

Biographical Information

Rodrigo Miyamoto (also known as Rodrigro Miyamoto-Watanabe) has pitched and played the outfield in Japanese minor leagues as well as for the Brazilian national team.

Miyamoto played for the Brazilian national team in the 1999 Pan American Games. He signed with the Yakult Swallows in 2000 out of high school. His fastball was timed at 93 mph back then. He injured his arm in 2002 and was converted to the outfield. In the 2002 Intercontinental Cup, he hit .176/.263/.176 as Brazil's left fielder; his outfield mate Daniel Matsumoto went on to far more success in the event and in Japan. In the 2003 Baseball World Cup, Rodrigo batted .231/.286/.333 with 6 RBI, tied for second on Brazil. He had two of their 3 RBI in their near-upset of Cuba in the quarterfinals.

Miyamoto was back on the mound by the 2005 South American Championship, helping Brazil to a Gold and the 2005 Baseball World Cup, saving a win over South Africa and taking a loss to Team Canada. He walked 11 in 12 1/3 IP but only allowed 7 hits. His 2.92 ERA was second on the Brazilian staff. Let go by Yakult, Miyamoto moved to the industrial leagues in 2006 with Yamaha.

In the 2006 COPABE qualifiers for the 2008 Olympics, the right-hander walked 5 and struck out 9 in 7 innings, allowing only one run as Brazil's best pitcher to work more than one inning. He walked 4 in 3 1/3 IP and had a 10.81 ERA in the 2007 Pan American Games.

Sources:

• Old IBAF site
• 2007 Pan American Games site
• Japanesebaseball.com
• Japanese Wikipedia
• Brazilian Baseball Federation