Mitsuru Sato

Mitsuru Sato (佐藤 充‎)

• Bats Right, Throws Right
• Height 6' 3", Weight 183 lb.

• School Nippon Sport Science University
• High School Sakado Nishi High School

• Born April 29, 1978 in Nishitokyo, Tokyo Japan

BR Register page

Biographical Information

Mitsuru Sato pitched in Nippon Pro Baseball and for the Japanese national team.

Sato was 1-1 with a 4.35 ERA for Japan when they won Bronze in the 2003 Baseball World Cup; he had their highest ERA (Kosuke Matsui was next at 3.68 on a strong staff). He beat Nicolas Dubaut and France but took Japan's lone loss, in the semifinals against Panama and Rafael Medina. The Chunichi Dragons drafted him in the fourth round of the 2003 NPB draft. Sato suffered a right elbow injury, and missed nearly his entire rookie season. He spent the 2005 season in the NPB Farm Leagues, and only had 3 appearances with big club. The Tokyo native broke out in 2006; he was 9-4 with a 2.65 ERA in 19 starts. He also set the team record when he completed 5 consecutive games. He tied Kenshin Kawakami and Tetsuya Utsumi for 4th in the Central League with six complete games. Sato didn't pitch well in 2007, only starting one game with the big club and stayed in the ni-gun for nearly the entire season. He had a 4.43 ERA in 7 starts in 2008, and didn't pitch any games with the big club in the next season. The Dragons released him after the 2010 season, and the Rakuten Golden Eagles picked him up. Sato still couldn't get any chances in 2011, then he announced his retirement after the 2011 season.

Overall, Sato was 11-10 with a 3.34 ERA and pitched 194 innings in 5 seasons in NPB.

Sources

• NPB site
• Wiki Japan