Ryo Watanabe (02)

Ryo Watanabe (渡邉 諒)

• Bats Right Throws Right
• Height 5' 10", Weight 176 lb.

• High School Kofu High School of Tokai University

• Born April 30, 1995 in Tsuchiura, Ibaraki Japan

BR register page

Biographical Information

Ryo Watanabe played in Nippon Pro Baseball.

Watanabe represented Japan in the 2013 U-18 Baseball World Cup. Their primary third baseman, he hit .367/.457/.567 with 8 runs in 9 games, fielding .933. He tied for 8th in runs, tied for 8th in hits (11) and tied for 7th in doubles (3). He was drafted by the Nippon Ham Fighters in the first round of the 2013 NPB draft, and he spent his first four seasons primarily in the NPB Farm Leagues. He hit .242/.297/.416 in 2018, then he crushed 11 homers with a .262/.333/.385 batting line in 2019. Watanabe then hit 6 homers with a .283/.348/.377 batting line in 2020, and he was 7th in batting average (between Hiroto Kobukata and Hiroaki Shimauchi. He slumped to .242/.327/.320 with 3 homers in 2021. The Fighters placed him in the minors for most of the 2022 season as he only played 21 games with the big club, then he was traded with Yuto Takahama to the Hanshin Tigers for Yukiya Saito and Taiga Egoshi. Watanabe struggled in 2023 as his batting line fell to .177/.224/.304, and he was named the starting designated hitter of the 2023 Nippon Series Game 1. Watanabe was 1-for-3 with a RBI single against Yoshinobu Yamamoto, but he went 0-for-3 in the rest of the Series. The Tigers beat the Orix Buffaloes in 7 games. He hit .260/.321/.350 in 2024.

Sources

• Wiki Japan