Hiroya Miyagi

Hiroya Miyagi (宮城 大弥)

• Bats Left, Throws Left
• Height 5' 7", Weight 182 lb.

• High School Konan High School

• Born August 25, 2001 in Ginowan, Okinawa Japan

BR register page

Biographical Information

Hiroya Miyagi was a Rookie of the Year in Japan.

Miyagi was 0-1 with a 1.04 ERA in the 2019 U-18 Baseball World Cup, losing to Taiwan. The Orix Buffaloes took him with their first-round pick of the 2019 NPB draft after losing the lotteries for their first two choices, Takaya Ishikawa and Ryusei Kawano; the scout was Takuya Shimada. He spent most of 2020 in the Japanese minors, going 6-2 with a 2.72 ERA while going 1-1, 3.94 for the big club. He tied Koutaro Ohtake for the Western League lead in wins.

In 2021, he made it to the big club for almost the entire year and did very well with a 13-4, 2.51 campaign. He finished second in the Pacific League in ERA, 1.12 behind teammate Yoshinobu Yamamoto. He was also second to Yamamoto in wins (five back), and tied Takayuki Kishi for 9th in Ks (134). With that 1-2 punch atop the rotation, Orix went worst-to-first. In the 2021 Japan Series, he shut out the Yakult Swallows for the first 7 innings of Game 2 but Keiji Takahashi battled him evenly. In the 8th, he walked Naomichi Nishiura and allowed two-out singles to Yasutaka Shiomi and Nori Aoki to make it 1-0; Ryo Yoshida relieved and Yakult wrapped up the shutout, Miyagi having taken a tough loss. They fell in six games, and he did not appear again (he presumably was in line for Game 7 had Orix made it there). He finished 4th in voting for the 2021 Pacific League Most Valuable Player Award behind teammates Yamamoto, Yutaro Sugimoto and Masataka Yoshida. He won the 2021 PL Rookie of the Year handily, getting 255 votes; Hiromi Itoh was next with 21. Interestingly, the 2020 CL Rookie of the Year, Masato Morishita, was also born August 25!

The Okinawa native extended his solid performance in 2022, and he went 11-8 with a 3.16 ERA. He was 3rd in wins (tied with Kodai Senga), 5th in strikeouts (tied with Naoyuki Uwasawa) and 7th in ERA (between Kazuya Ojima and Masahiro Tanaka). Miyagi surrendered 3 runs in 5 1/3 innings in the 2022 Nippon Series Game 3, and Keiji Takahashi got the win over him. He bounced back soon in Game 7, and he completed 5 shutout innings to help the Buffaloes beat the Yakult Swallows. He won 24 points in the PL MVP voting, and he tied Go Matsumoto for 7th. Miyagi then represented Japan in the 2023 World Baseball Classic, and he completed 5 innings with only one run allowed to save Roki Sasaki's win against Czech. He didn't appear in another games, and Japan beat the USA to win Gold.

Miyagi improved to 10-4 with a 2.27 ERA in 2023, and he led the league with 3 shutouts. He was 4th in wins (tied with Kona Takahashi, Tatsuya Imai, Kohei Arihara, Atsuki Taneichi and Ojima), 9th in innings (146 2/3, between Kaima Taira and Tanaka), 9th in strikeouts (122, between Uwasawa and Takahashi) and 3rd in ERA (between Takahashi and Taira). He completed 6 shutout innings to get the win over Yuki Nishi in the 2023 Nippon Series Game 2, but he surrendered 5 runs in 4 2/3 innings in Game 7. Masashi Itoh got the win over him, and the Buffaloes were beat by the Hanshin Tigers. He won 72 points in the PL MVP voting, and he was 5th between Tomoya Mori and Yuki Yanagita. Miyagi went 7-9 with a 1.91 ERA in 2024, and he was 1 1/3 innings shy from qualifying; he thus lost the ERA title to Livan Moinelo. In his last start, Miyagi completed 6 shutout innings, but the game was then called in the 7th inning so he was unable to reach the limit. Miyagi still ranked 7th in strikeouts (140), between Taneichi and Arihara.