Kenichi Wakatabe

Kenichi Wakatabe (若田部 健一)

• Bats Left, Throws Left
• Height 6' 0", Weight 191 lb.

• School Komazawa University
• High School Kamakura Gakuen High School

• Born August 5, 1969 in Kamakura, Kanagawa Japan

BR Register page

Biographical Information

Kenichi Wakatabe pitched in Nippon Pro Baseball and for the Japanese national team.

Watatabe represented Japan in the 1990 Asian Games, 1991 Asian Championship and 1991 Intercontinental Cup . The Daiei Hawks drafted him in the first round of the 1991 NPB draft. His signing bonus was 130 million Yen, which broke the NPB record held by Hideo Nomo. Wakatabe joined the rotation and went 10-13 with a 4.00 ERA in his rookie year. He led the Pacific League in home run allowed and hit-by-pitches. He lost the NPB Rookie of the Year to Hiroshi Takamura, but still won the special award. Wakatabe struggled and only collected 5 wins with a 4.03 ERA in 1993.

In 1994, Wakatabe bounced back and went 10-7 with a 4.03 ERA. He suffered from injury, only pitched 9 games in 1995. He was moved from rotation and recorded a 5.16 ERA in 23 relief outings in 1995. The Kamakura native came back in 1996, started 19 games wIth a 4.81 ERA. However, he injured again in 1998, which limited him into 9 appearances in that season.

After recovering from injury, Wakatabe went 10-6 with a 3.29 ERA in 1999. In 1999 Nippon Series, he started in Game 2, allowed 5 runs in just 1 2/3 innings and got the loss. The Hawks beat the Chunichi Dragons in 5 games, and he won his first Nippon Series Title. He led the Pacific League with 2 shutouts in 2000, but his ERA rose to 4.43. The Hawks won the Pacific League pennant for the second consecutive seasons. When they were celebrating, Wakatabe held his friend Masao Fujii's uniform to honor him (he suffered from cancer and passed away 6 days after seeing his teammates won the champion). In 2000 Nippon Series, Wakatabe started Game 1, allowed 3 runs in 4 innings and ended up no decision. He started again in Game 5, but he allowed 4 runs in 6 2/3 innings pitched and got a loss. The Hawks was beat by the Yomiuri Giants in 6 games. He was 6-4 with a 4.40 ERA in 2001. The 2002 season was Wakatabe's career year. He went 10-8 with a 2.99 ERA, and collected 96 strikeouts. He led the league with 7 complete games, and ranked 4th in ERA (.49 behind Masahiko Kaneda). He was also selected into the only NPB All-Star Game, pitched 2 innings, allowed a run in Game 2. He became a free agent after the 2002 season, and transferred to the Yokohama BayStars. He suffered a right elbow injury, only had 17 appearances combined with the BayStars. He announced his retirement after spending the whole 2005 season in the NPB Farm Leagues. After retiring, he was the pitching coach for the Hawks since 2017.

Overall, Wakatabe was 71-75 with a 4.15 ERA and pitched 1,315 innings in 13 seasons in NPB.