Kazuhiro Wada

Wada with the Chunichi Dragons

Outfielder

Bats: Right

Throws: Right

NPB debut

April 30, 1997, for the Seibu Lions

NPB statistics
(through 2015)

Batting average

.303

Home runs

319

RBI

1081

Teams

Seibu Lions (1997–2007)
Chunichi Dragons (2008–2015)

Career highlights and awards

1x Japan Series Champion (2004)
1× Central League MVP (2010)
1× Pacific League Batting Champion (2005)
2× Japan Series MVP (2004, 2011)
6× Best Nine Award (2002-2006, 2010)
4× Pacific League Champion (1997, 1998, 2002, 2004)
2× Central League Champion (2010, 2011)
6× NPB All-Star (2003-2005, 2008, 2010, 2012)
2000 professional hits

Kazuhiro Wada
Medal record
Representing Japan
Men's Baseball
Olympic Games
	2004 Athens	Team
World Baseball Classic
	2006 San Diego	Team

Kazuhiro Wada (和田一浩, Wada Kazuhiro^?, born June 19, 1972 in Gifu, Gifu, Japan) was a Japanese professional baseball player. He played mostly as an outfielder for the Chunichi Dragons and the Seibu Lions of the Nippon Professional Baseball league in a career spanning 18 years. Following retirement in 2015, he has become a color commentator for Dragons broadcasts for the NHK.

Playing for Tohoku Fukushi University, Wada was MVP of the Sendai Big Six University League as a senior and won the batting title. He hit .429 for Kobe Seiko in the industrial leagues, then in 1996 was drafted in the fourth round of the Japanese draft by the Seibu Lions.

He hit .190 in 1997 when he first played for Seibu and was 0/1 in the 1997 Japan Series. In 1998, Wada hit .333 in 36 games for Seibu and split his time between catching and the outfield. He went 0/2 in the 1998 Japan Series. In 1999, he batted .271 while again seeing limited time behind the plate, with Tsutomu Ito starting.

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.

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