Sameera Rathnayake

Sameera Sampath Rathnayake

• Bats Right, Throws Left
• Height 5' 10", Weight 172 lb.

• Born April 8, 1986 in Galle Sri Lanka

Biographical Information

Sameera Rathnayake has been a regular for the Sri Lanka national team.

He played in the 2013 West Asian Baseball Cup. In the 2015 East Asian Baseball Cup, he hit .412/.500/.412 and was named the All-Star right fielder. He was with Sri Lanka when they won the 2017 West Asian Baseball Cup for their first title in the event.

He had 3 hits against Pakistan in the 2017 Asian Championship, Sri Lanka's first Asian Championship appearance. In their first Asian Championship win, he drove in Avishka Sahan with the winning run in the 8th against Hong Kong. He hit .375/.389/.375 for the event; his six hits were second on Sri Lanka (two behind Krishna Hapurachchi) and his two runs tied Asanka Lakmal for the team lead.

The veteran was captain of the Sri Lanka Army team that won the national title in 2018. He then came up big in the 2018 Asian Games, Sri Lanka's first baseball team to play in the Asian Games. In the opener, he tripled off Laos's Cola Phouangkeo with one out in the first to score Amila Galbokka Hewage and Sandun Madushanka; it was Sri Lanka's first RBI (and second RBI) ever in an Asian Games. He was then driven in by Iresh Kosala. Soua Xong retired him the second but he drew a walk in the third. He singled in the 5th and grounded out in the 7th. In the 9th, he doubled in both Galbokka and Madushanka to cap a 15-10 win, finishing a homer shy of the cycle. The next day, Sri Lanka played Thailand with a shot in the main round at stake. Hitting cleanup and playing center, he went 1-for-4, with a hit off Kevin Kawin Irwin, in a loss. For the initial round, he was 8th in average, tied for 5th in hits, tied Chayaphat Suanthong and Nalor Gniatou for 2nd in RBI (two behind John Daru), tied for 3rd in total bases (trailing Joe Daru and Gniatou), 7th in slugging and tied for 7th in OBP.

The Galle native had 3 hits against Iran in the 2019 West Asia Baseball Cup. In the finale, he drove in 3 in the finale to beat Pakistan, 5-4. In the 2019 Asian Championship, he was Sri Lanka's center fielder and cleanup man. He hit only .125/.125/.125 but stole 3 bases in 3 tries and played error-free defense. He tied Jonash Ponce and Juan Diego Lozano for second in the event in swipes, one behind Erwin Bosito.