is a professional Japanese

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball sport played between two team sport, teams of nine players each, taking turns batting (baseball), batting and Fielding (baseball), fielding. The game occurs over the course of several Pitch ...

pitcher In baseball, the pitcher is the player who throws ("Pitch (baseball), pitches") the Baseball (ball), baseball from the pitcher's mound toward the catcher to begin each play, with the goal of out (baseball), retiring a batter (baseball), batter, ...

. He played for the

Chunichi Dragons The are a professional baseball team based in Nagoya, the chief city in the Chūbu region of Japan. The team plays in the Central League of Nippon Professional Baseball. They have won the Central League pennant nine times (most recently in 2011 ...

for 9-years. During his time in high school, Hamada was rated alongside

Shintaro Fujinami is a Japanese professional baseball pitcher who is a free agent. He has previously played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Oakland Athletics and Baltimore Orioles, and in Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB) for the Hanshin Tigers. Amateu ...

(now of the

Hanshin Tigers The are a Nippon Professional Baseball team playing in the Central League. The team is based in Nishinomiya, Hyōgo Prefecture, Japan, next to their main stadium, Hanshin Koshien Stadium. The Tigers are owned by Hanshin Electric Railway Co., ...

) and

Shohei Ohtani is a Japanese professional baseball designated hitter and pitcher for the Los Angeles Dodgers of Major League Baseball (MLB). Nicknamed "Shotime", he has previously played in MLB for the Los Angeles Angels and in Nippon Professional Basebal ...

(now of the

Los Angeles Angels The Los Angeles Angels are an American professional baseball team based in the Greater Los Angeles, Greater Los Angeles area. The Angels compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) American League West, ...

) as one of the top 3 pitchers in his age bracket.

Early career

As a high school pitcher, Hamada was rated alongside

and

as the "big three" pitchers of the Koshien tournament.

Professional career

Chunichi Dragons

2016–2018

After performing well in spring training, Hamada earned a spot in the starting rotation for the 2016 season where on 30 March he faced up to the

Hiroshima Carp The is a professional baseball team based in Hiroshima, Japan. They compete in the Central League of Nippon Professional Baseball. The team is primarily owned by the Matsuda family, led by , who is a descendant of Mazda founder Jujiro Matsuda ...

in an 11-3 loss. Hamada would give up five walks, eight hits and seven earned runs in his four innings pitched. Hamada would fail to make any further appearances with the first team in the 2016 season and as such had his contract downgraded to a trainee status for the upcoming 2017 season. On 24 April 2017, Hamada underwent surgery for

ulnar nerve palsy The ulna or ulnar bone (: ulnae or ulnas) is a long bone in the forearm stretching from the elbow to the wrist. It is on the same side of the forearm as the little finger, running parallel to the radius, the forearm's other long bone. Longer an ...

in his left elbow and although was unable to pitch that year, was re-signed at the end of the season. On 27 June 2018, he returned to the mound in the first time in two years against the

Orix Buffaloes The are a Nippon Professional Baseball team formed as a result of the 2004 Nippon Professional Baseball realignment by the merger of the Orix BlueWave of Kobe, Hyōgo Prefecture, Japan, and the Osaka Kintetsu Buffaloes of Osaka, Osaka Prefecture ...

in the Western League, but it was later discovered Hamada has a blood circulation defect in his left arm where he underwent surgery once again.

2019

Hamada pitched in 17 games on the farm for an 8.77 ERA but was given a full-time roster deal ahead of the 2020 season, being assigned the #69 jersey.

References

External links

*
NPB.com
1994 births Living people Baseball people from Aichi Prefecture Nippon Professional Baseball pitchers Chunichi Dragons players Japanese expatriate baseball players in the Dominican Republic Tigres del Licey players {{Japan-baseball-pitcher-stub