Osamu Hamanaka

Osamu Hamanaka (濱中 治)

• Bats Left, Throws Right
• Height 5' 10", Weight 179 lb.

• High School Minabe High School

• Born July 9, 1978 in Tanabe, Wakayama Japan

BR register page

Biographical Information

Osamu Hamanaka has played in Nippon Pro Baseball and for the Japanese national team.

Hamanaka was drafted by the Hanshin Tigers in the third round of the 1996 NPB draft. He spent the first four years in the NPB Farm leagues, and only played 61 games combined with big club. He also represented Japan in the 1999 Intercontinental Cup. Hamanaka broke out and hit .263/.346/.411 with 13 homers in 2001. The Tigers invited his mother to watch their game on Mother's Day, and Hamanaka blasted his first home run with the big club in that game - a walk-off home run off Masato Kawano. The Wakayama native improved and recorded a .301/.356/.511 with 18 homers in 2002. He also made into the Japan's roster for the 2002 Intercontinental Cup.

Hamanaka was selected into the 2003 NPB All-Star Game, but he couldn't attend due to a right shoulder injury. He missed nearly 2/3 of the 2003 season, and he came back in the 2003 Nippon Series. He was 1-for-12 in the series, and the Tigers was beat by the Fukuoka Daiei Hawks in 7 games. Hamanaka suffered the same injury in 2004, and missed nearly the entire 2004 season. He only had 78 appearances with a .284/.360/.376 batting line in 2005 after coming back. He was 0-for-3 in the 2005 Nippon Series when the Tigers was disastrously swept by the Chiba Lotte Marines.

Hamanaka had a career year in 2006. He hit .302/.361/.484 with a career-high 20 homers, and ranked 9th in batting (.048 behind Kosuke Fukudome). He also attended the 2006 NPB All-Star Game, and went 1-for-4 with a single off Yoshihisa Hirano. The Wakayama native slumped to .193/.239/.359 in 2007, and the Tigers traded him with Makoto Yoshino to the Orix Buffaloes for Keiichi Hirano and Kenta Abe after the 2007 season. Hamanaka bounced back and batted .253/.331/.447 with 9 homers in 2008, but he struggled and his batting line declined to .208/.253/.481 in 2009. He stayed in the ni-gun for nearly the entire season, only played 4 games with the big club in 2010, and the Buffaloes released him after that season. The Yakult Swallows picked him up, but he only played 5 more games for them, then announced his retirement after the 2011 season. After retiring, he became the Tigers' hitting coach in 2016, 2019, and worked for their minor league team in 2015 and from 2017 to 2018.

Overall, Hamanaka had hit .268/.335/.442 with 85 homers in 15 seasons in NPB.

Sources

• NPB site
• Wiki Japan
• Defunct IBAF site