Hayato Sakamoto
| Hayato Sakamoto | |||
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Sakamoto with the Yomiuri Giants
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| Yomiuri Giants – No. 6 | |||
| Shortstop | |||
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Born: December 14, 1988 Itami, Hyōgo, Japan |
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| NPB debut | |||
| July 12, 2007, for the Yomiuri Giants | |||
| NPB statistics (through 2016 season) |
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| Batting average | .286 | ||
| Home runs | 150 | ||
| Run batted in | 578 | ||
| Stolen bases | 124 | ||
| Teams | |||
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| Career highlights and awards | |||
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| Last updated on: Nov 4, 2013 | |||
| Medal record | ||
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| Men's baseball | ||
Representing  Japan
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| 2015 WBSC Premier12 | ||
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2015 Tokyo | Team |
Hayato Sakamoto (坂本 勇人 Sakamoto Hayato?, born December 14, 1988 in Itami, Hyōgo, Japan) is a Japanese shortstop with the Yomiuri Giants.
In 2008, Sakamoto became the first player in Giants franchise history to start a season opener while under the age of 20 since Hideki Matsui. He is widely regarded as one of the most promising young stars in all of Japanese professional baseball today.
Sakamoto was born in Itami, Hyōgo, and began playing baseball while in the first grade at Koyanosato Elementary School for the Koyanosato Tigers (a Little League team) alongside current Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles pitcher Masahiro Tanaka. Ironically, Sakamoto was the team's ace pitcher, and Tanaka his batterymate on the team. Both Sakamoto and Tanaka went on to attend Itami Municipal Matsuzaki Junior High School, but Sakamoto opted to join Itami Senior, while Tanaka chose to play for the Takarazuka Boys.
Upon graduating from junior high, Sakamoto decided to attend Kosei Gakuin High School in northern Aomori Prefecture, a baseball powerhouse in the Tōhoku region. He became the team's starting shortstop by the fall of his first year (the equivalent of tenth grade in the United States) at Kosei Gakuin High. Sakamoto was hitting cleanup by the summer of his second year (eleventh grade), and led his team to runners-up in the Tohoku Regional Tournament that fall, earning a berth in the 78th National High School Baseball Invitational Tournament that would be held at Koshien Stadium the following spring. He attracted the attention of scouts when he hit .813 (13-for-16) with four home runs in the Tohoku Regional Tournament later that spring and hit a total of 39 home runs during his high school career.
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