Kazuhiro Wada
Kazuhiro Wada | |||||||||||||||||||||
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Chunichi Dragons – No. 75 | |||||||||||||||||||||
Outfielder | |||||||||||||||||||||
Born: Gifu, Gifu, Japan | June 19, 1972|||||||||||||||||||||
Batted: Right Threw: Right | |||||||||||||||||||||
NPB debut | |||||||||||||||||||||
April 30, 1997, for the Seibu Lions | |||||||||||||||||||||
Last NPB appearance | |||||||||||||||||||||
September 24, 2015, for the Chunichi Dragons | |||||||||||||||||||||
NPB statistics (through 2015) | |||||||||||||||||||||
Batting average | .303 | ||||||||||||||||||||
Hits | 2,050 | ||||||||||||||||||||
Home runs | 319 | ||||||||||||||||||||
RBI | 1,081 | ||||||||||||||||||||
Teams | |||||||||||||||||||||
As player
As coach
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Career highlights and awards | |||||||||||||||||||||
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Medals
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Kazuhiro Wada (和田 一浩, Wada Kazuhiro, born June 19, 1972) is a retired Japanese professional baseball player. He played mostly as an outfielder for the
Early career
Playing for
Professional career
Seibu Lions
He hit .190 in 1997 when he first played for Seibu and was 0/1 in the
In 1998, Wada began playing semiregularly as an outfielder, batting .306, the same average he recorded the next year. He still not yet an everyday player. In 2002, Wada finally became a starter and responded by batting .319 with 33 homers. Playing left field and DH, he made the Best Nine as the top designated hitter in the Pacific League. He finished third in slugging behind teammates Alex Cabrera and Kazuo Matsui. His Japan Series woes continued with a miserable 0/15 in the 2002 Japan Series, as Seibu got swept by the Yomiuri Giants.
Wada did even better in 2003, hitting .346 (.379 with runners in scoring position), homering 30 times, scoring 87 runs and driving in 89. He made his first All-Star team and was on the Best Nine as an outfielder alongside Yoshitomo Tani and Tuffy Rhodes. Wada finished third in the Pacific League in average (behind Michihiro Ogasawara and Tani) and slugging (behind Cabera and Ogasawara). He was fourth in OBP behind Ogasawara, Tadahito Iguchi and Nobuhiko Matsunaka.
2004 was an eventful year for Wada. He hit .320 (.375 with RISP), homered 30 times and drove in 89 despite missing time for the
Wada continued his dazzling pace in 2005, batting .322, though his 27 homers were his lowest total in four years. He made his fourth straight All-Star contingent. He edged Julio Zuleta (.319) and Matsunaka (.315) for the first Pacific League batting title won by a right-handed hitter since Hatsuhiko Tsuji in 1993. He was fourth in slugging, third in OBP, tied for third in runs (80), first in hits (153), second in doubles (32).
Wada was on the winning Japanese club in the 2006 World Baseball Classic and went 0 of 2 with one strikeout in two games as the backup left fielder to Hitoshi Tamura. Wada hit .298 in 2006 and finished third in the PL with 95 RBI, second to Fernando Seguignol with 34 doubles, eighth with 144 hits, seventh with 239 total bases, tied for seventh with 72 runs, second with 78 walks (trailing only Matsunaka). He was fourth in OBP and eighth in slugging. His home run total continued to fall, down to 19, but still tied for seventh in the PL.
He re-signed for Seibu for ¥275 million plus incentives.
Chunichi Dragons
At the end of the 2007 season, Wada opted for free agency and joined boyhood club and reigning Japan Series champions, the
Personal
Wada's hobbies are fishing, pachinko and mah jong.
Sources
- This is a shortened version of the Baseball-Reference.com Bullpen article Kazuhiro Wada, accessed February 21, 2007. The Bullpen is a wiki, and its content is available under the GNU Free Documentation License.
External links
- Career statistics and player information from Baseball Reference (Minors)
- Japanbaseballdaily.com by Gary Garland
References
- ^ "DRAGONS' KAZUHIRO WADA JOINS 2,000-HIT CLUB". One World Sports. 11 June 2015. Archived from the original on 8 August 2016. Retrieved 8 June 2016.
- ^ "Outfielder Wada joins Dragons". Japan Times. 27 December 2007. Retrieved 8 June 2016.