Kenji Hagiwara
Kenji Hagiwara
- Bats Right, Throws Right
- Height 5' 11", Weight 175 lb.
- School Cochise College
- Born May 15, 1986 in Elbeuf France
Biographical Information[edit]
Kenji Hagiwara was an outfielder for the French national team.
Hagiwara's father was a judo artist who moved from Japan to France at age 23 and met Hagiwara's mother there. Hagiwara was introduced to baseball while visiting Japan as a child. He continued playing in France and was admitted to the country's only baseball academy. He also played for the French junior team.
He can speak French, English and Spanish, and knew some Japanese as a child.
Hagiwara was signed by the Rouen Huskies. He was on the French squad in the 2005 European Championship and hit .375/.444/.375 with two steals, a run and a RBI while fielding .875 in the outfield. He led France in OBP and was second to Yann-Alexandre Monnet in average. In the 2007 Division Elite campaign, he hit .438/.524/.663 with 10 steals in 10 tries and 37 runs in 21 games. He was second in average and 3 runs shy of the league lead. He was 8 for 20 in the finals to help the Huskies win. He only hit .167/.211/.167 in the 2007 European Cup.
In the 2007 European Championship, Hagiwara hit .250/.333/.250 as France's starting center fielder.
He also spent part of 2007 in the US with Cochise College. He was the third French player in recent years at Cochise, following in the footsteps of Sebastien Herve, who had recommended the program to him.
Hagiwara hit .267/.368/.333 for Rouen in the 2008 European Cup in Grosseto. He made two errors in five games in the outfield. In 2008, he hit .417/.537/.537 with 41 runs in 29 games. He stole 17 bases in 19 tries. He played error-free defense in center field and had four assists as Rouen won another title.
He won the MVP award at the 2009 Challenge de France de baseball tournament. He went 1 for seven with 3 runs, an RBI, 1 K, a stolen base, 1 SH and 2 BB.
He also came in second in the Homerun Contest at the 2009 Open international de Rouen, finishing behind Martin Johnson from Quebec.
Bad News, Good News[edit]
According to the Rouen 76 website, [1] he was involved in a car accident in January 2009, when the Renault he was driving hit a 150lb boar on the highway; happily, he was not injured in the accident. He describes also being involved in a skiing accident the Alps five years earlier, when he fell 200 feet down the side of a mountain while trying to get his glove.
His son Hugo was born June 18, 2009. The mother's name is Aurélie.
Kenji is studying at a local business school, going into his second year of studies in 2009.
Quotes[edit]
"The best French player? This is a delicate point to discuss as there is such competition. But if he is not yet, he soon will be, and he is already at least in the top 5." François Colombier, manager of the Rouen Huskies, giving an interview to the Huskies website in 2009 [1]
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