He was an All-Star, a certified big leaguer. But his style has always been small ball, all the way.

It doesn’t matter if the base paths are 60 or 90 feet, the pitches under or overhand, the game high school softball or Major League Baseball.

“Every team I’ve ever been a part of has been built on pitching, bunting, defense,” said first-year ‘Iolani softball coach Chad Cordero. “Here, we’ve got a lot of the smaller, scrappy type of players. I like it. It’s the old-school National League style, where you’re always trying to force the action. I’ll take those kinds of teams anytime.”

Cordero is taking one of those kinds of teams into the state tournament Tuesday. Though unseeded, the Raiders are among the legitimate contenders to win the 12-team Division I bracket.

‘Iolani lost in the championship final last year, but won it in 2019 (there was no tournament in 2020 or ’21 due to the pandemic). Those teams were coached by Benny Agbayani, who played five major league seasons, plus pro ball in Japan.

With his daughters graduating from ‘Iolani to college ball, Agbayani moved on too.

Enter Cordero … like he did from 2003 to 2010 in 314 games with the Montreal Expos, Washington Nationals and Seattle Mariners, all in relief.

He saved 128 of them. That includes an MLB-leading 47 in 2005, when he made the NL All-Star team and was named on Cy Young Award and MVP ballots.

It wasn’t by design that one former big league player replaced another as the ‘Iolani softball coach. It just kind of worked out that way.

After his playing career ended, Cordero did some baseball coaching but gravitated toward the smaller diamond.

“I’ve always loved the game. Growing up with a lot of female cousins, I was always around it, and I love the pace of it,” said Cordero, who is from Upland and Chino, Calif. “Fast games are great. When you’re a professional player, there’s nothing worse than a four-hour game on a travel day.

“Even in college, the softball and baseball fields were back-to-back,” he said. “So after practice or games me and some teammates would stop by and watch.”

His connection to prep softball in Hawaii started with travel ball teams, which is how he learned of the opening at ‘Iolani.

“There were 11 girls from Hawaii on our last club team (in California),” he said. “I’d come here to work with some of them. Now this is my full-time home, with some visiting family in California.”

The travel team he now coaches, Warstic-Hi, is based in the islands.

As happens for people in many endeavors, a college friend helped him land a gig.

“Kurt (Suzuki) was one of my references for ‘Iolani,” Cordero said.

Cordero and Suzuki, the former Baldwin star, were batterymates at Cal State Fullerton in 2003 when Cordero was named MVP of the Fullerton Regional on the way to the College World Series. He signed with the Expos, who took him in the first round with the 20th pick.

“Even our Fullerton teams with Kurt were based on small ball,” Cordero said.

The next year, while Cordero was saving 14 games as an Expos rookie, the Titans won the College World Series. Suzuki led the way, earning the Brooks Wallace Award as college baseball’s best player. He retired last year after 16 major league seasons, which included an All-Star Game appearance in 2014 and a victorious World Series with the Nationals in 2019.

“We’ve remained close,” Cordero said. “Our dads have been friends for 20 years. Kurt’s parents even came to one of our games at Sand Island this year.”

Baseball and softball are very similar, but Cordero said he is still learning about the differences in pitching.

“The mechanics. I’m still getting the hang of that, but mentally it’s still the same. Pitching philosophy is very similar. Understanding how to read swings or where they are set up in the box and learning how to set up hitters is all the same,” he said. “The only difference is mechanics.”

On the field, Cordero, 41, looks like a typical high school coach. Once in a while there’s a reminder of his past. At a recent game, a brother of an opposing player asked him to sign an Expos cap.

He laughed when it was suggested that being a member of the Montreal team that moved to Washington after the 2004 season makes him old.

“A lot of the younger kids never heard of the Expos,” he said.

Pitching for them got some of his gear into the Hall of Fame — and gets him through the door at Cooperstown whenever he wants as a fan.

“I was the last Expo to throw a pitch in Montreal. After the game our PR guy came up and asked for the glove and hat for the Hall of Fame. They displayed it for a few years, and they sent me a lifetime pass to the Hall of Fame.”

The All-Star Game the next year is among his favorite memories — and not just because he struck out the one batter he faced, future Hall of Famer Ivan Rodriguez.

“It was awesome,” Cordero said. “I was 23 years old and still acting like a little kid, having a chance to play a kids’ game for a living, in the same locker room as guys I watched as a kid. I was kind of awestruck. What do you even say to them? In the bullpen watching Roger Clemens warm up, I never imagined playing baseball alongside him, then next year with Team USA.”

Now, it’s about helping make memories for the ‘Iolani softball team as the Raiders close their season at states.

And Chad Cordero has a pretty good record at finishing things.