is a Japanese baseball pitcher from Moriguchi, Osaka, Japan and he currently plays for the Hanshin Tigers. He was a member of the

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

team in the

2009 World Baseball Classic The 2009 World Baseball Classic (WBC) was an international baseball competition. It began on 5 9 and finished 5 26. Unlike in 2006, when the round-robin format of the first two rounds led to some eliminations being decided by run-difference ti ...

Early years

Iwata entered Osaka Toin High School in 1998. He became the ace pitcher in the autumn 1999 (his 2nd year of senior high school) and contributed to the school's winning the Osaka High School Baseball Autumn Tournament and advancing to the quarterfinal in the Kansai High School Baseball Autumn Tournament. However, he contracted type 1 diabetes in the winter of his second year. At the time of his diagnosis he had an agreement to join a successful company team after graduation, however the agreement was withdrawn after the company learned of his illness. His treating doctor allowed him to continue playing baseball as part of a balanced lifestyle necessary to stabilize the symptoms of diabetes. After graduating high school he entered Kansai University in 2001, where he was the school team's ace pitcher. He had 6 wins and 10 losses in the university league.

Nippon Professional Baseball

He was drafted by the Hanshin Tigers after 2005 season because of his various breaking balls. In his debut in 2006, Iwata allowed four runs in 3 innings of work and lost his only game in the season. In 2007, Iwata was 0-1 and a 5.40 ERA. In 2008, he was third in voting for the 2008 Central League Rookie of the Year Award, trailing

Tetsuya Yamaguchi is a former Japanese Nippon Professional Baseball player with the Yomiuri Giants in Japan's Central League. Career He was playing in the Missoula Osprey (Advanced Rookie level under Arizona Diamondbacks) before he was drafted by the Giants in ...

and

Hayato Sakamoto is a Japanese professional baseball shortstop with the Yomiuri Giants of Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB). In , Sakamoto became the first player in Giants franchise history to start a season opener while under the age of 20 since Hideki Mats ...

after going 10-10 with a 3.28 ERA and 101 strikeouts. Iwata missed the 2010 season. The following season, he had a 9-13 record, a 2.29 ERA, and 133 strikeouts in 25 starts.

2009 World Baseball Classic

He was selected to play for Japan in the

replacing Hiroki Kuroda due to his shoulder problems.

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Iwata, Minoru 1983 births Living people People from Moriguchi, Osaka Baseball people from Osaka Prefecture Japanese baseball players Nippon Professional Baseball pitchers Hanshin Tigers players 2009 World Baseball Classic players Kansai University alumni