Koju Hirohashi

Koju Hirohashi (広橋 公寿)

• Bats Right, Throws Right
• Height 5' 11", Weight 162 lb.

• School Yawata University
• High School Tokai University Fukuoka High School

• Born January 11, 1957 in Munakata, Fukuoka Japan

BR register page

Biographical Information

Utility man Koju Hirohashi played for 11 seasons in Nippon Pro Baseball. He is the father-in-law of Hisashi Iwakuma, a more successful player.

Hirohashi played for Toshiba in the industrial leagues after college. Undrafted, he signed with the Seibu Lions. He hit .272/.310/.383 in 91 games as a rookie in 1981, then .266/.344/.396 in 64 contests in 1982. He was 0 for 1 as a pinch-hitter in the 1982 Japan Series, which Seibu won. In 1983, Koju batted .237/.324/.301 in 112 plate appearances over 83 games. He mostly pinch-ran in the 1983 Japan Series, stealing a base and going 0 for 1 in 5 games as Seibu beat the Yomiuri Giants.

The Fukuoka native put up a .296/.361/.408 line in a career-high 200 plate appearances in 1984. He hit .301/.358/.455 with 14 doubles in 123 at-bats over 82 games in 1985. He went 1 for 3 with a run in the 1985 Japan Series, backing up Hatsuhiko Tsuji at second base. Seibu fell to the Hanshin Tigers. Hirohashi went 4 for 20 with 5 runs in 22 games in 1986, then was 1 for 3 as a pinch-hitter in the 1986 Japan Series, in which the Lions beat the Hiroshima Carp.

Hirohashi remained a productive bench player at .323/.356/.417 in 1987 but sat out the 1987 Japan Series. He hit .243/.273/.365 in 80 plate appearances over 50 games in 1988. He singled and scored in his only at-bat in the 1988 Japan Series, backing up Kazuhiro Kiyohara at first base. He was 0 for 10 with two walks in 1989 then wound down his career with the 1990 Chunichi Dragons (5 for 24, HR) and 1991 Daiei Hawks (2 for 11, 2 BB, 3 R).

He later coached for Seibu.

Source: Japanbaseballdaily by Gary Garland