Yujiro Miyako

Yujiro Miyako (都 裕次郎)

• Bats Left, Throws Left
• Height 5' 11", Weight 184 lb.

• High School Katata High School

• Born February 25, 1959 in Otsu, Shiga Japan

BR register page

Biographical Information

Yujiro Miyako pitched for 10 seasons for the Chunichi Dragons and made one All-Star team.

Miyako was the first-round pick of the Dragons in the 1976 NPB draft out of high school. He did not debut for the team until 1979, when he was 2-2 with 3 saves, a 2.50 ERA and .212 opponent average in 25 games. He went 3-1 with a 2.79 ERA in 1980 and 6-8 with a 4.45 ERA in 1981; in '81, he allowed 24 home runs, 6th in the Central League (between Shoji Sadaoka and Takashi Nishimoto).

He had his best season in 1982 (16-5, 3.13) and made the CL All-Star team. He was 10th in the league in ERA, third in wins (behind Manabu Kitabeppu and Suguru Egawa), tied with Tsunemi Tsuda for 8th in complete games (8), was 6th in innings (221 1/3, between Kazuhiko Endo and Kazuhiko Kudo), allowed the fifth-most hits (211, between Kitabeppu and Kazuo Yamane), tied Tsuda for second in homers allowed (28, 8 back of Egawa), was 5th with 59 walks, ranked fifth in strikeouts (141, between Genji Kaku and Takao Obana), tied for 5th in hit batsmen (6) and was second in wild pitches (5). He helped Chunichi make their lone Japan Series of his career. In the 1982 Japan Series, he lost game 2 to the Seibu Lions but started game 3 as well (getting a no-decision) then relieved in games 5 and 6 as Chunichi fell in six. He was 0-1 with a 4.91 ERA in the Series.

The lefty faded to 6-9, 4.57 with 5 saves in 1983, allowing a .289 average. He tied Kenichi Kajima for 7th in the CL with 43 games pitched and tied Tatsuo Komatsu for 8th in saves. He was 13-8 with a save and a 4.08 ERA in 1984, tying Kitabeppu and Kaku for 7th in wins, tying Egawa for 7th in IP (186), was 6th with 201 hits allowed (between Kaku and Takamasa Suzuki) and was second with 34 home runs allowed (5 behind Endo). He was 0-2 with a 3.20 ERA in limited action in 1985 amidst shoulder and back problems.

He was 2-1 with a 3.32 ERA in 23 games in 1986 then missed all of 1987 due to shoulder surgery. In 1988, he had a 3.18 ERA in 12 relief outings. He allowed five hits and two runs in two innings in 1989 to end his career. His career record was 48-36, 3.73 with 10 saves in 243 games (105 starts). In 844 1/3 IP, he allowed 846 hits (125 homers) and 265 walks while striking out 507. He hit .172/.186/.194.

He later worked for Chunichi as a batting practice pitcher, minor league pitching coach, scout and official scorer.

Sources

• Michael Eng database
• Gary Garland's japanbaseballdaily site
• Japanese Wikipedia entry