Ken Kato

Ken Kato (加藤 健)

• Bats Right Throws Right
• Height 6' 1", Weight 200 lb.

• High School Shibata Agricultural High School

• Born March 23, 1981 in Kitakanbara-gun, Niigata Japan

BR register page

Biographical Information

Ken Kato played in Nippon Pro Baseball for 13 years.

Kato was drafted by the Yomiuri Giants in the 3rd round of the 1998 NPB draft, and he spent his first seven seasons almost entirely in the NPB Farm Leagues; he only got 4 at-bats for the big club combined. He went 10-for-34 in 2006, and he hit .229/.302/.250 in 15 games for the Honolulu Sharks in the winter, splitting catching with Clint Sammons and Steven Lerud. Since the Giants already had star catcher Shinnosuke Abe, Kato was mainly placed in the minors, and he was 4-for-21 in 2007. Kato went 7-for-36 in 2008, and he had 13 at-bats combined for the big club in the next two seasons. He then hit .152/.263/.273 in 21 games in 2011, and he was 3-for-19 in 2012. Kato was named the starting catcher of the 2012 Nippon Series Game 5 because Abe was injured. He bunted a high-and-inside pitch from Kazuhito Tadano and the ball hit him in the head, so Tadano was ejected by umpire Masao Yanada (who thought that Kato had been hit by a dangerous pitch). However, it was revealed that Tadano didn't hit Kato after review, but the result didn't change. One opinion was that Kato deserved a Best Actor award for his role. The Giants beat the Nippon Ham Fighters in 6 games. Kato had 57 at-bats combined for the top team in the next three seasons, and he went 18-for-75 in 2015 after Abe became a first baseman and Seiji Kobayashi took over behind the dish. Kato didn't have any at-bats for the big club in 2016, and he announced his retirement. He later became a minor league battery coach for the Giants.

Overall, Kato hit .216/.275/.275 with 59 hits in 13 seasons in NPB.

Sources

• Wiki Japan
• Japanese Baseball Card Blog on the hit-by-pitch