Toru Wada

Toru Wada (和田 徹)

• Bats Right, Throws Right
• Height 5' 10", Weight 193 lb.

• High School Meisei High School

• Born July 27, 1945 in Sakai, Osaka Japan

BR register page

Biographical Information

Toru Wada played in Nippon Pro Baseball for 15 years.

Wada signed with the Kokutetsu Swallows in 1966, and he went 4-for-12 in his first season. He then recorded a .121/.150/.207 batting line in 1965, and he hit .183/.233/.315 in 1966. Wada shared the starting catcher spot with Yoshinori Tsuji in 1967, and he improved to .232/.269/.376 in 87 games. He was then moved to left field after Yasuhiko Tsuji shined in 1968, and he crushed 8 homers with a .220/.267/.353 batting line. Wada split between outfield and first base in 1969, and his batting line fell to .201/.243/.307.

The Osaka native struggled again in 1970 as his batting line was .174/.202/.337, then he hit .188/.264/.250 in 54 games in 1971. Wada bounced back with a .254/.320/.362 batting line with 5 homers in 1972, and he played a career-high 90 games with a .247/.282/.307 batting line in 1973. He collected 3 homers with a .204/.243/.316 batting line in 1974, and the Tigers traded him with Toshio Nogami to the Nankai Hawks for Yoshihiro Aiba and Masanori Murakami. Wada was used as a backup catcher by the Hawks, and he was 5-for-25 in 1975. He hit .215/.250/.246 in 1976, but he didn't get more than 40 at-bats a season again before he announced his retirement in 1978. Wada later coached and scouted in the Hawks system, and he was their battery coach from 1982 to 1984 and from 1993 to 1994.

Overall, Wada hit .212/.257/.322 with 352 hits and 42 homers in 15 seasons in NPB.

Sources

• Wiki Japan