Kenichi Sato

Kenichi Sato (佐藤 兼伊知)

• Bats Right, Throws Right
• Height 5' 11", Weight 170 lb.

• High School Hokkai High School

• Born September 13, 1959 in Sapporo, Hokkaido Japan

BR register page

Biographical Information

Kenichi Sato played in Nippon Pro Baseball for 14 years.

Sato was drafted by the Lotte Orions in the 5th round of the 1977 NPB draft, and he spent his first five seasons primarily in the NPB Farm Leagues; he only got 47 at-bats combined for the big club. Sato hit .268/.311/.443 in 85 games in 1983, and he slumped to .211/.250/.373 in 77 appearances in 1984. He then had a .261/.295/.395 batting line in 1985, and he got some chances when shortstop Yoshio Mizukami missed most of the 1986 season. Sato collected 26 doubles and 9 homers with a .283/.332/.428 batting line that season, and he tied Kazunori Yamamoto for 5th in doubles in the Pacific League.

The Sapporo native crushed 9 homers with a .229/.292/.381 batting line in 1987, and he hit .238/.323/.373 in 106 games in 1988. He crushed a career-high 11 homers with a .297/.344/.456 in 1989, then he batted .271/.347/.399 in 1990. Sato lost the competition with Tokitaka Minamibuchi in 1991, so he only played 86 games with a .236/.307/.351 batting line. He struggled again in 1992 as his batting line was .208/.285/.312 in 73 games, and he announced his retirement. Sato then coached in Lotte's system from 1993 to 2007, and he also coached the Jiangsu Hopestars from 2008 to 2009. He returned as the fielding coach for Lotte's minor league team from 2010 to 2011 and from 2017 to 2019, and he worked as the same position for their top team from 2012 to 2016.

Overall, Sato hit .254/.314/.394 with 619 hits and 65 homers in 14 seasons in NPB.

Sources

• Wiki Japan