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Teruaki Satō

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Teruaki Satō
Satō playing for the Tigers
Hanshin Tigers – No. 8
Infielder
Born: (1999-03-13) March 13, 1999 (age 25)
Nishinomiya, Hyōgo Prefecture
Bats: Left
Throws: Right
debut
March 26, 2021, for the Hanshin Tigers
Career statistics
(through 2023)
Batting average.256
Home runs68
Runs batted in240
Teams
Career highlights and awards

Teruaki Satō (佐藤 輝明, Satō Teruaki, born March 13, 1999 in Nishinomiya City, Hyōgo Prefecture, Japan) is a professional Japanese baseball infielder for the Hanshin Tigers of Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB).

Early career

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Teruaki started playing little league baseball in 1st grade for Kōtō Elementary School, and was chosen to play for the Hanshin Tigers Juniors team in his 6th grade.[1] He joined the Kōryō Junior High baseball team, and played both pitcher and catcher positions.[2]

He continued to play for Nigawa High School, but his team did not make it to any national tournaments in Koshien.[3] Because he only managed to hit 5 home runs until the end of his 2nd year, he took up weight training to improve his hitting power. This paid off and he hit 15 home runs in his 3rd year, bringing his total high school home run count to 20.[4] While he did not get scouted by any of the NPB teams, he caught the attention of the Kinki University (Kindai) baseball coach and was invited to enroll there.[5]

He became a regular in the Kindai lineup, first as a left outfielder then finally as 3rd baseman.[5] He then became the team's most productive hitter as they played in the Kansai Big Six Baseball League where he was awarded Best Nine for 3 consecutive seasons.[6] In his 2nd year, he was chosen as the League MVP, and was also selected to play for the national team in the 2018 Haarlem Baseball Week and the USA vs Japan Collegiate All-Star Series.[3] In his senior year, he broke the league home run record by hitting 14, was once more awarded league MVP, and helped his team win their first championship in 3 years.[7] He finished with a 0.288 batting average, 14 home runs and 69 RBIs in 88 appearances.

Professional career

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Satō was the 1st round draft pick of the Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks, Orix Buffaloes, Yomiuri Giants and the Hanshin Tigers during the 2020 Nippon Professional Baseball draft.[6] Hanshin manager Akihiro Yano drew the winning ticket, and Satō signed a 100 million yen contract with the team that included a 50 million yen signing bonus, for an estimated annual salary of 16 million yen.[8] He was assigned the jersey number 8, formerly worn by Kosuke Fukudome.[9]

2021

On March 17, Satō broke the Nippon Professional Baseball rookie home run record in pre-season exhibition games by hitting 6, previously held by Kyosuke Sasaki when he hit 5 in 1972.[10] This earned him a spot in the season opening game against the Tokyo Yakult Swallows on March 26. He started the season slow and was only batting at .196 by mid-April, with the worst strikeout rate in the team as he averaged above 40%. Nevertheless, he continued to display his hitting power by belting home runs, including one that flew out of Yokohama Stadium on April 9.[11] His hitting eventually picked up and by April 28, he set a new Tiger rookie record for most RBI by the end of April by driving in 18 RBIs (previously set in 1950).[12] As Yūsuke Ōyama was recovering from an injury on May 2, Satō was assigned the clean-up spot and he notched 5 RBIs including his first career grand slam that stole the lead from the Hiroshima Toyo Carp and propelled him to the top of the team leaderboard in both home runs (9) and RBI (24).[13] In his 33rd appearance of the year on May 7, Satō hit his 10th home run and broke the record for fastest drafted NPB rookie to reach double digit homers (36 games).[14] On May 28, he again drove in 5 RBIs including a 3-run home run on the 9th that won the game against the Saitama Seibu Lions. This made him the first rookie in 63 years to hit 3 home runs in a single game since Shigeo Nagashima in 1958.[15] In a July 4 game against the Hiroshima Toyo Carp, Satō struck out 5 times in the game, tying an NPB record.[16] On September 29, Satō set the NPB record for most plate appearances without getting a hit by a non-pitcher after going 54 consecutive plate appearances without a hit.[17]

Personal life

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He is the eldest son in a sporting family. His father was a national judo champion, and his brother currently plays infielder for Kwansei Gakuin University.[18] His interest in baseball waned in junior high and he was leaning towards joining the soccer club before one of his friends persuaded him to join the baseball club instead.[19]

References

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  1. ^ "近大・佐藤の阪神指名に地元沸いた 佐藤も所属した甲東ブルーサンダース歓喜". Sports Nippon. 2020-10-26.
  2. ^ "阪神ドラフト１位・佐藤輝明の軌跡＜３＞ タイガースジュニア選出も右肘痛で１年間プレーできず". Sports Hochi. 2020-10-29.
  3. ^ a b "近大「佐藤輝明」、野球エリートではない巨人のドラ1位候補、"糸井2世"と呼ばれるまで". Daily Shincho. 2020-10-21.
  4. ^ "阪神ドラフト１位・佐藤輝明の軌跡＜４＞ 高校２年で開始ウェートトレで巨大化 本塁打量産で校舎の窓ガラス破壊". Sports Hochi. 2020-10-30.
  5. ^ a b "阪神ドラフト１位・佐藤輝明の軌跡＜５＞ 「恋をした」近大・田中監督がワンスイングで一目ぼれ". Sports Hochi. 2020-10-31.
  6. ^ a b "近大・佐藤輝明は阪神１位「地元の球団で良かった」". Nikkan Sports. 2020-10-26.
  7. ^ "【関西学生】巨人ドラ１候補の近大・佐藤輝明、二岡智宏超えリーグ通算最多１４本塁打「偉大な先輩更新できてうれしい」". Sports Hochi. 2020-10-18.
  8. ^ "阪神ドラ１佐藤、背番号は８ 福留級の球界代表選手へ…「頑張りたい」]". Daily Sports. 2020-11-12.
  9. ^ "阪神ドラ２伊藤将司は「27」／新人背番号一覧". Nikkan Sports. 2020-12-07.
  10. ^ "歴史的快音だ 阪神・佐藤輝がオープン戦6号でドラフト新人最多本塁打記録更新 凄すぎる3戦連発". Sports Nippon. 2021-03-17.
  11. ^ "Tigers hit ground running as Teruaki Sato continues to excite". The Japan Times. 2021-04-12.
  12. ^ "阪神・佐藤輝の歴史的一撃！3&4月ではドラフト制以降の新人最多に並ぶ7号「いい感じで打てました」". Yahoo News Japan. 2021-04-28.
  13. ^ "阪神・ドラ１佐藤輝 ４番デビューでプロ初の満塁弾！「打つことができてよかった」". Daily Sports. 2021-05-02. Retrieved 2021-05-02.
  14. ^ "阪神佐藤輝明が新人最速10号、村田上回る33戦 右翼席最上段看板手前へ". Nikkan Sports. 2021-05-07. Retrieved 2021-05-07.
  15. ^ "阪神佐藤輝明３発、長嶋茂雄以来新人63年ぶり「スゴかったなぁ」矢野監督". Nikkan Sports. 2021-05-29. Retrieved 2021-05-29.
  16. ^ @NPB_Reddit (4 July 2021). "Hanshin Tigers rookie Teruaki Sato tied an NPB record by striking out 5 times in one game. #npb" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
  17. ^ @NPB_Reddit (29 September 2021). "Hanshin Tigers rookie Teruaki Sato has now gone 54 consecutive Plate Appearances without getting a hit, setting a ne…" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
  18. ^ "近大・佐藤輝明の弟・太紀さんが語る「巨人のドラフト１位候補の兄」". Sports Hochi. 2020-09-16.
  19. ^ "阪神１位佐藤輝「サッカー部に入ろうか」母校で告白". Nikkan Sports. 2020-11-18.
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