Hiroto Saiki

Hiroto Saiki (才木 浩人, Saiki Hiroto, born November 7, 1998 in Kobe City) is a Japanese Nippon Professional Baseball pitcher for the Hanshin Tigers in Japan's Central League.

Saiki Hiroto
Hanshin Tigers – No. 35
Pitcher
Born: (1998-11-07) November 7, 1998
Kobe, Hyōgo Prefecture
Bats: Right Throws: Right
debut
October 5, 2017, for the Hanshin Tigers
NPB statistics
(through 2018)
Win-Loss6-10
Earned run average4.61
Strikeout88
Teams

Early baseball career

Hiroto started baseball early when he played catcher for his school's team in his first grade. He specialized as a pitcher in junior high, and helped his team win championships and runner ups in his hometown's local tournaments.[1][2]

He then went on to become the ace pitcher of Soma Shufu High School, where in his 2nd year, he led the team to win runner up in the prefectural tournament. Despite his team never making it to either Spring Koshien or Summer Koshien, his 140 km/h fastball caught the attention of both NPB and MLB scouts alike.[3][4]

Hanshin Tigers

He was chosen as the Hanshin Tigers' 3rd pick in the 2016 annual professional baseball draft. He signed a 50 million yen contract with the Tigers, with an estimated 6 million yen annual salary. He was assigned the jersey number 35.[5]

Playing Style

Standing at 189 cm, Saiki is a right-handed pitcher whose arsenal consists of fastballs clocked at a maximum of 152 km/h, sliders, curveballs and splitters.[6] In addition, he also has recently started throwing a cutter.[7] He aims to follow the footsteps of his teammate and fellow high-school draft Shintaro Fujinami who is known for his high velocity pitches.[5]

gollark: Periodic processes which occur at the same time.
gollark: We can safely make a laser-based version if all employee containment zones have their windows removed.
gollark: GTech™ product idea!
gollark: How do you make swords into bows anyway...?
gollark: I would be very surprised if they did.

References
  1. "阪神能見のイチ押し 須磨翔風・才木「藤浪超え」だ - 野球 : 日刊スポーツ". Nikkan Sports. 2016-12-05. Retrieved 2016-12-05.
  2. "阪神3位　須磨翔風・才木「藤浪さんいつか超える". Sports Nippon. Retrieved 2017-10-21.
  3. "兵庫・須磨翔風の187センチ右腕・才木「私立には絶対負けない」". Sports Hochi. Archived from the original on 2016-11-13. Retrieved 2016-12-05.
  4. "【兵庫】「藤浪２世」須磨翔風・才木、2回戦で散る…日米12球団25人のスカウトは絶賛". Sports Hochi. Archived from the original on 2016-10-28. Retrieved 2016-12-05.
  5. "阪神ドラフト3位・才木が仮契約　「1年目の藤浪さんに近づければ」". Daily Sports. 2017-03-03.
  6. ""雑草"阪神・才木Ｇ倒プロ１勝　"高校ビッグ４"に「プロでは負けたくない」". Sports Nippon. Retrieved 2018-05-28.
  7. "阪神・才木、新球習得だ！小さく変化…香田投手Ｃ直伝「カットボール」". Sankei Sports. 2017-11-15. Retrieved 2017-11-15.
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