Hayato Sakamoto
Hayato Sakamoto was born in Itami, Hyōgo Prefecture, Japan on December 14th, 1988 and is the Japanese Baseball Player. At the age of 35, Hayato Sakamoto biography, profession, age, height, weight, eye color, hair color, build, measurements, education, career, dating/affair, family, news updates, and networth are available.
At 35 years old, Hayato Sakamoto physical status not available right now. We will update Hayato Sakamoto's height, weight, eye color, hair color, build, and measurements.
In 2007, Sakamoto spent most of his rookie season (2007) with the Giants' nigun team (Japanese for "minor league" or "farm team"). He played 77 games in the Western League, hitting .268 with five homers and 28 RBIs. Sakamoto saw his first call-up to the ichigun (major league) team in July and made his professional debut as a pinch runner on July 12. He recorded his first career base hit and RBI on September 6, knocking in the game-winning run in a game against the Dragons.
In 2008, Manager Tatsunori Hara had high hopes for Sakamoto in the 2008 season, playing him in all 15 pre-season (spring training) games at either shortstop or second base. Although Tomohiro Nioka, then the Giants' starting shortstop, returned from injury just before their season opener, Sakamoto's quick adjustment to second base, accompanied by left-hander Masanori Ishikawa's taking the mound for the opposing Tokyo Yakult Swallows, prompted Hara to start him in the season opener as the No. 8 hitter on March 28. Sakamoto became the first Giant to start a season opener while under the age of 20 since former New York Yankees outfielder Hideki Matsui did so in 1994.
Although Sakamoto was expected to platoon at second base with the likes of veteran journeyman Kimura Takuya and speedster Ryota Wakiya throughout the season, he returned to his natural position when Nioka tore his right calf muscle in that very game. Sakamoto started at shortstop from the second game onwards and never gave up the starting job. His first career home run came against the Hanshin Tigers on April 6, a grand slam off reliever Kenta Abe that made him the youngest player in Central League history (19 years, 114 days) to hit a grand slam in a regular season game. He was also voted to the All-Star team that year, getting his first hit in an All-Star game in Game 2 held at Yokohama Stadium on August 1.
Sakamoto finished the season with a .257 batting average, eight home runs, 43 RBI and 10 stolen bases, contributing to the Giants' league title that year. He made his first appearance in the Japan Series against the Saitama Seibu Lions on November 1, hitting a home run off veteran right-hander Fumiya Nishiguchi in Game 7 and becoming the first NPB player in 22 years to hit a home run in the Japan Series while being under the age of 20 (Kiyohara Kazuhiro last accomplished the feat while he was with the then-Seibu Lions). The Giants lost Game 7 3-2, coming up short in their run for a Japan Series championship.
Sakamoto also started all 144 games, becoming just the third player (and first in the Central League) to start every game of the season in one's second year out of high school (along with Futoshi Nakanishi and Kiyohara). Perhaps even more impressive was that if one were to include pre-season, All-Star, Climax Series (playoffs) and Japan Series games, Sakamoto played a grand total of 172 total games that year. Although the Central League Most Valuable Rookie award was presented to teammate and left-handed reliever Tetsuya Yamaguchi, who went 11-2 with a 2.32 ERA in 67 appearances, Sakamoto received a special award for his efforts. The Giants also rewarded him by giving him the uniform number 6.
In 2009, Sakamoto got off to a good start to the 2009 season (his third in the pros and second at the major league level), hitting .376 with a league-leading 11 doubles and slugging .541 for the month of April. He continued his torrid streak into May, hitting multiple home runs (the second a game-winning solo shot off closer Kyuji Fujikawa) in a single game for the first time on May 2 against the Tigers and passing Tigers slugger Tomoaki Kanemoto to take the league lead in batting average that week. He hit the first walk-off home run of his career on May 6 off reliever Hiroki Sanada (who was a teammate of Sakamoto until he was traded midway through the 2008 season) in a game against the Yokohama BayStars.
In 2015, Sakamoto was named captain of the Giants. He finished the regular season with a .269 batting average and 12 home runs, and for the first time since 2007 was not selected as an all-star. Sakamoto would bounce back in 2016, hitting .344 with 23 home runs and a .988 OPS, and was once again named an all-star. However, the Giants would miss the postseason for the first time since 2006.
In 2018, he was selected to his 10th All-Star Series and finished the regular season with a career-high .345 batting average.
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 the Giants reach the 2019 Japan Series. However, the Giants were swept by the Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks in four games. Sakamoto collected just one hit in 13 at-bats during the series.
On June 3, 2020, it was announced that Sakamoto and Giants teammate Takumi Ohshiro both 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, 2013 World Baseball Classic, 2014 MLB Japan All-Star Series, 2015 exhibition games against Europe, 2015 WBSC Premier12, 2016 exhibition games against Mexico and Netherlands, 2017 World Baseball Classic and 2019 WBSC Premier12.
In the 2013 World Baseball Classic, he was the starting shortstop. Like most of his teammates, he had problems at the batting plate, as he was unable to hit for consistency during the pool rounds, though he had a crucial RBI single equalizer against Chinese Taipei in the bottom of the 8th of that game. Sakamoto seemed to regain his batting sense alongside his teammates in the 16-4 mulling of the Netherlands that qualified Team Japan to the semi-finals, hitting 2-5 in the game including a grand slam in the top of the 7th that gave Japan a more than 10 run lead needed to end the game early via mercy rule, securing an early ticket to the semis. However, Team Japan lost their semi-final match against Puerto Rico 3-1, thus finishing third and losing their two-time defending championship streak.
On October 1, 2019, he was selected to participate at the 2019 WBSC Premier12.
On November 16, 2018, Sakamoto was selected for the Yomiuri Giants roster at the 2018 MLB Japan All-Star Series exhibition game against MLB All-Stars.