Koichi Hada

Koichi Hada (羽田 耕一)

• Bats Right, Throws Right
• Height 5' 11", Weight 187 lb.

• High School Sanda Gakuen High School

• Born June 19, 1953 in Amagasaki, Hyogo Japan

BR register page

Biographical Information

Koichi Hada played in Nippon Pro Baseball.

Hada was drafted by the Kintetsu Buffaloes in the fourth round of the 1971 NPB draft. He spent the first years of his career in the NPB Farm Leagues, and didn't have any appearances with the big club. Hada was named the starting third baseman in 1973. He hit .240/.273/.388 with 12 homers, but made a league-leading 27 errors as a 3rd baseman. Hada was selected into the 1974 NPB All-Star Game, but went 0-for-2. He tied the NPB record when he blasted a homer in 4 consecutive at-bats on May 1 (the mark was broken by Munetaka Murakami in 2022.) The Hyogo native ended up batting .248/.291/.355 with 14 homers in the 1974 season, but also led the league with 22 double play grounders.

Hada slumped to .221/.270/.342 in 1975, and his batting line worsened to .242/.292/.329 in 1976. The slugger bounced back and hit .265/.306/.434 with 22 homers in 1977, and led the team in homers and RBI. He was 4th in the Pacific League in RBI (34 behind Leron Lee), 7th in homers (12 behind Lee) and 8th in hits(33 behind Yutaka Fukumoto). However, Hada didn't play well in the next year, and only hit .239/.294/.341 with 9 homers. He came back and hit .274/.356/.439 with 13 dingers in 1979. In the 1979 Nippon Series, Hada was 8-for-24, with a triple off Hidetake Watanabe in Game 6, but the Buffaloes were still beaten by the Hiroshima Carp in 7 games.

1980 was Hada's career year. He hit .272/.335/.534 with a career-high 30 homers, and won his only Diamond Glove Award as a third baseman. In the 1980 Nippon Series, Hada blasted a clutch 2-run shot off Yutaka Enatsu in the 12th inning of Game 1, and went 2-for-5 with a double off Kojiro Ikegaya in Game 2. However, he was 0-for-13 in the rest of the series, and the Buffaloes lost to the Carp again. Hada declined to .234/.311/.428 in 1981, but he bounced back soon and hit .277/.370/.481 with 22 homers in 1982. He was selected into the 1982 NPB All-Star Game, but went 0-for-4 in 3 games. The veteran attended the All-Star Game again in the next summer, and collected a single from Mitsuo Sumi in Game 2. He recorded a .266/.348/.430 batting line with 14 homers in the 1983 season.

Hada was still productive in his late career, and hit .272/.347/.433 and .266/.332/.436 respectively in the next two years. However, he slumped to .219/.283/.391 in 1986, and Yoshiaki Kanemura replaced him. Hada was mainly the backup to Kanamura in the rest of his career, only playing 223 games combined from 1987 to 1989. He announced his retirement after the 1989 season, and became a coach. He was the batting coach for the Buffaloes from 1990 to 2000.

Overall, Hada had hit .253/.313/.408 with 225 homers in 17 seasons in NPB. He was the 47th player to reach 200 homers, and the 57th to reach 1500 hits.