The batting average is less than 10%.
No matter how much it is an exhibition game, the leading hitter is too sluggish. The opening of the regular season is just around the corner, but the sense of hitting is at the bottom. Hayato Sakamoto (35), the main shortstop for the Yomiuri Giants, is in deep trouble.
Sakamoto played as the designated hitter 바카라5 times against the Yokohama Baystars in an exhibition game held at the Tokyo Dome on the 21st, and recorded no hits and 2 walks in 2 at-bats. He picked off walks in the 1st and 4th innings, struck out standing in the 6th, and was out with a fly ball to right field in the 9th. The silence lengthens.
After hitting the infield in the fourth inning against the Softbank Hawks on March 16, he went hitless in four games and 14 at-bats in a row. He is 2-for-25 with a batting average of 8 in 10 games. Both hits were singles.
Sakamoto is a 1st round pick in the 2007 high school draft by Yomiuri. From the second year of his joining, he jumped to the starting lineup and grew into a top player.
He was the leading shortstop in Japanese professional baseball and the greatest star in Yomiuri. He led the Central League in hits in 2012 and in batting and on-base percentage in 2016. He won five Golden Gloves for his outstanding defense. He had 2205 hits in his career until last year.
However, his mood has not been good since last year. After claiming the title for as long as eight years, he handed it over to third baseman Kazuma Okamoto (27), who is playing as a representative of the World Baseball Classic (WBC).
During the last season, a sexual scandal broke out and his image was greatly damaged. He exposed the fact that he forced an abortion to a woman he was dating with a Japanese weekly magazine. There were reports that the woman in question had made an extreme attempt. His personal life has never been an issue before.
came up with an injury. Since 2008, when he established himself as a starter, he has appeared in 83 games, his lowest. He had a batting average of just 2.8 par 6 (87 hits in 304 at-bats) with 5 home runs and 33 RBI.
Sakamoto, who is under a multi-year contract, has an annual salary of 600 million yen. After Yoshinobu Yamamoto (Orix, 650 million yen) and Yanagita Yuki (Softbank, 620 million yen), he is tied for third in the overall annual salary of the Japanese professional baseball league.
He has been a key player in the Japanese national team for a long time. Member of the 2013 and 2017 WBC Japan national team. He did not make it to the WBC national team this time. Genda Sosuke (Seibu) is playing as the starting shortstop.
The Japanese national team made a dramatic drama in the semi-finals and advanced to the final. Sakamoto, who was dropped from the national team, is struggling with a batting average of less than 10%. It’s an oddly contrasting scene.
Nippon Professional Baseball begins on the 31st. The Chunichi Dragons are Yomiuri’s opponents for the opening match.