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Hayato SakamotoJapanese baseball player
Date of Birth: 14.12.1988
Country:  Japan |
Content:
- Early Life and High School Career
- Professional Career
- 2007 Season
- 2008 Season
- 2009 Season
- 2015 Season
- 2016 Season
- 2018 Season
- 2019 Season
- 2020 Season
- International Career
- On November 16, 2018, Sakamoto was selected on
Early Life and High School Career
Kazuma Sakamoto was born in Itami, Hyogo, Japan, on March 9, 1988. He began playing baseball in the first grade of elementary school for the Koyanoshito Tigers (a Little League team) alongside current New York Yankees pitcher Masahiro Tanaka. Ironically, Sakamoto was the team's ace pitcher, while Tanaka was his catcher.
Both Sakamoto and Tanaka went on to attend Matsuzakidai Municipal Junior High School in Itami city, but Sakamoto opted to join Itami Senior High School, while Tanaka chose to play for the Takarazuka Boys. After graduating from junior high school, Sakamoto enrolled in Kosei Gakuin High School in northern Aomori Prefecture, a baseball powerhouse in the Tohoku region.
He became the team's starting shortstop by the fall of his first year (equivalent to the tenth grade in the United States) at Kosei Gakuin High School. By the summer of his second year (eleventh grade), Sakamoto began to bat clean-up, and that fall led his team to runner-up in the Tohoku regional tournament, earning a berth in the 78th National High School Baseball Invitational Tournament to be held at Koshien Stadium the following spring.
He caught the attention of scouts when he batted .813 (13-for-16) with four home runs in the Tohoku regional tournament that spring and had amassed a total of 39 home runs over his high school career.
Professional Career
Yomiuri GiantsIn the 2006 NPB high school draft, Sakamoto was chosen by the Yomiuri Giants in the compensatory first round after the Chunichi Dragons lost a lottery that had been held for fellow shortstop Naomiichi Donoue, the most coveted high school player, and was given the uniform number 61.
2007 Season
Sakamoto spent the majority of his 2007 rookie season with the Giants' nigun (Japanese for "minor league" or "farm team") team. He played in 77 games in the Western League, batting .268 with five homers and 28 RBIs. Sakamoto was called up to the ichigun (major league) team for the first time in July, and made his professional debut at shortstop on July 12. He recorded his first career base hit and RBI on September 6, driving in the game-winning run in a game against the Dragons.
2008 Season
Manager Tatsunori Hara had high hopes for Sakamoto in the 2008 season, playing him at either shortstop or second base in all 15 preseason (spring training) games. Although Tomoyuki Nioka, the Giants' starting shortstop at the time, returned from injury just prior to the start of the season, Sakamoto's quick adjustment to second base in tandem with lefty Masanori Ishikawa taking the mound to oppose the Tokyo Yakult Swallows prompted Hara to start Sakamoto at shortstop.
Sakamoto became the first Giant to open a season as a teenager since former New York Yankees outfielder Hideki Matsui did so in 1994. Although he was expected to platoon at second base throughout the season with the likes of veteran utility player Kimura Takuya and speedster Wakai Ryohei, he was returned to his natural position when Nioka tore his right calf muscle in that same game. Sakamoto started the second game and never relinquished his starting spot.
He hit his first career home run on April 6 off of Hanshin Tigers' pitcher Kenta Abe, making him the youngest Central League player (19 years, 114 days) to hit for the cycle in a regular season game. He was also voted to the All-Star Game that year, making his first All-Star appearance in game two, held at Yokohama Stadium on August 1.
Sakamoto finished the season with a .257 batting average, 8 home runs, 43 RBIs, and 10 stolen bases, contributing to the Giants' league title that year. He made his first Japanese Series appearance against the Saitama Seibu Lions on November 1, and hit a home run off veteran right-hander Fumiya Nishiguchi in game 7, becoming the first NPB player in 22 years to homer in a Japanese Series game as a player under 20 years old (Kiyohara Kazuhiro last accomplished the feat while with the then-Seibu Lions). The Giants lost the seventh game, 3–2, ending their run in the Japan Series championship.
Sakamoto also started all 144 games, becoming only the third player (and first in the Central League) to start every game of the season in his second year out of high school (along with Futoshi Nakani and Kiyohara). Perhaps even more impressive was that, if one includes preseason, All-Star, Climax Series (playoffs), and Japanese Series, Sakamoto played in a total of 172 games that year.
Although the Central League Rookie of the Year award went to teammate and lefty-hitting pitcher Tetsuya Yamaguchi, who went 11–2 with a 2.32 ERA in 67 games, Sakamoto received a special award for his efforts. The Giants also rewarded him by giving him the uniform number 6.
2009 Season
Sakamoto started the 2009 season (his third in pro and second at the major league level) well, batting .376 with a league-leading 11 doubles and slugging .541 through April. He continued his torrid hitting streak in May, hitting multiple home runs (including a go-ahead solo shot off of Kyuji Fujikawa) in one game for the first time on May 2 against the Tigers, and overtaking Tigers' batter Tomoaaki Kanemoto to lead the league in batting average for the week.
He hit his first career grand slam on May 6 off of pitcher Hiroki Sanada (who had been a teammate of Sakamoto's until being traded in the middle of the 2008 season) in a game against the Yokohama BayStars.
2015 Season
Sakamoto was named captain of the Giants in 2015. He finished the regular season with a .269 batting average and 12 home runs, and for the first time since 2007, he was not selected as an All-Star.
2016 Season
Sakamoto rebounded in 2016, batting .344 with 23 home runs and a .988 OPS, and was named an All-Star once again. However, the Giants missed the postseason for the first time since 2006.
2018 Season
In 2018, he was selected to his 10th All-Star Series, and finished the regular season with a .345 batting average.
2019 Season
In 2019, Sakamoto won his first MVP award. He finished the regular season with a .312 batting average, 40 home runs, and 94 RBI, and helped lead the Giants to the 2019 Japan Series. However, the Giants lost in four games to the Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks. Sakamoto collected only one hit in 13 at-bats during the Series.
2020 Season
On June 3, 2020, it was announced that Sakamoto and fellow Giants teammate Takumi Oshiro had tested positive for COVID-19. However, he was cleared to return to the starting lineup for the Giants' 2020 season opener against the Hanshin Tigers on June 19. On November 8, 2020, Sakamoto collected his 2,000th career hit.
International Career
As a member of the Japan national baseball team, Sakamoto has participated in the 2012 exhibition games against Cuba, the 2013 World Baseball Classic, the 2014 MLB Japan All-Star Series, the 2015 exhibition games against Europe, the 2015 WBSC Premier12, the 2016 exhibition games against Mexico and the Netherlands, the 2017 World Baseball Classic, and the 2019 WBSC Premier12.
In the 2013 World Baseball Classic, he was the starting shortstop. Like most of his teammates, he struggled at the plate, as he was unable to get consistent hits during the pool rounds, although he had a crucial game-tying RBI single against Chinese Taipei in the bottom of the 8th inning. Sakamoto seemed to regain his hitting stroke along with his teammates in the 16–4 routing of the Netherlands that sent Japan to the semifinals, going 2-for-5 in the game, including a grand slam in the top of the seventh inning that gave Japan a 10-run lead, more than enough to end the game early via the mercy rule and secure an early berth in the semifinals. However, Japan lost their semifinal matchup against Puerto Rico, 3–1, finishing in third place and ending their run as two-time defending champions.
On October 1, 2019, he was selected to play in the 2019 WBSC Premier12.
