De San Miguel attended South Fremantle Senior High School in Perth, Western Australia before signing with the Minnesota Twins organization as an undrafted free agent on August 18, 2004. He split time between all levels of the Twins organization, from Rookie League to Triple–A, as an organizational catcher until the Twins released him from the New Britain Rock Cats in 2011.[citation needed]
Baltimore Orioles
On January 9, 2012, de San Miguel signed a minor league contract with the Baltimore Orioles following a strong showing in the ABL. He split time between the High–A Frederick Keys, Double–A Bowie Baysox, and Triple–A Norfolk Tides, batting .239/.331/.399 with six home runs in 63 games. He was invited to Spring Training with the Orioles in 2013, and spent the entire season in High–A Frederick, batting .240/.366/.421 with 10 home runs in 65 games. He elected free agency on November 4, 2013.
On January 12, 2015, de San Miguel returned to the Twins organization, but appeared in only 3 games for the Triple–A Rochester Red Wings before suffering an injury. He elected free agency on November 6, 2015.
Kansas City Royals
On February 11, 2016, de San Miguel signed a minor league contract with the Kansas City Royals, batting .187/.248/.264 in 30 games between the Triple–A Omaha Storm Chasers and Double–A Northwest Arkansas Naturals. The following year he hit .237/.310/.333 in 34 games. In 2018 and 2019, he was still signed as a player with the Royals, but rarely activated as a player on the phantom injured list. He made no appearances in either season before electing free agency on November 4, 2019.[1]
On January 10, 2020, de San Miguel signed a new minor league deal with the Kansas City Royals and was assigned to Double–A Northwest Arkansas. On July 4, de San Miguel was added to the 60-man player pool. On November 2, de San Miguel elected free agency.[2] On February 3, 2021, de San Miguel re-signed with the Royals on a minor league contract.[3]
Australian Baseball League
De San Miguel was the starting catcher for the Perth Heat of the Australian Baseball League for six seasons from 2010 through 2015. In 2016, he joined the Melbourne Aces. He is a career .270/.382/.452 hitter with 39 home runs in 279 games in the ABL. He is a four-time ABL Champion with the Heat, who won in 2010–11, 2011–12, 2013–14, 2014–15, and with the Melbourne Aces in 2019-20 and 2020-21 as a manager. de San Miguel was named MVP of the 2014-15 Championship Series.
Records that belonged to de San Miguel when he retired following the 2019–20 Australian Baseball League season include games (386), plate appearances (1560), at-bats (1300), runs batted in (214), hit by pitch (39), as well as strikeouts (294), and grounded into double play (42).
In 2009, he was a provisional member of the Australia national baseball team at the 2009 World Baseball Classic. Australia was eliminated in the first round of the tournament and placed 12th of 16 teams with a record of 1–2. De San Miguel did not play in the tournament.
In 2013, he returned with the team for the 2013 World Baseball Classic, for which Australia automatically qualified. Australia finished in last place out of sixteen teams, having lost three games in the first round to Chinese Taipei, South Korea, and the Netherlands. De San Miguel went 0-for-3 with a strikeout against Korea, and replaced Matt Kennelly late in the game against the Netherlands, striking out in his only appearance.
In 2016, de San Miguel caught for Australia in the 2017 World Baseball Classic – Qualifier 1, which occurred February 11–14, 2016. Australia defeated the Philippines and South Africa twice to advance in the tournament. He appeared in all three games, going 2-for-11 with a walk and a strikeout.
De San Miguel returned in 2017 to compete in the World Baseball Classic with the Australia national baseball team. Australia was eliminated in the first round, losing to both Japan and Cuba. De San Miguel had a strong series, going 5-for-9 with one walk and three strikeouts. He hit a solo home run off of Tomoyuki Sugano in the second inning of the first game against Japan.
In 2018, he was selected exhibition series against Japan.[4]
^Baseball Australia Media (20 February 2018). "Team Australia Roster Announced". Baseball Australia Southern Thunder. Archived from the original on 8 December 2019. Retrieved 22 February 2018.
