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Kazumi Saito
Kazumi Saito (斉藤 和巳, Saitō Kazumi; born November 30, 1977) is a Japanese former professional baseball starting pitcher, and current fourth squad manager for the Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks of Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB). He was a two-time winner of the Eiji Sawamura Award (2003, 2006), but did not pitch in a regular season game after October 2007 due to various shoulder injuries.
Saito was marked as a top prospect by NPB scouts from his days at South Kyoto High School. He along with the current Hiroshima Toyo Carp pitcher Masayuki Hasegawa and Saitama Seibu Lions pitcher Tomoki Hoshino were dubbed the "Big Three" of their particular age group. The Fukuoka Daiei Hawks (currently the Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks) selected Saito with their first-round pick in the 1995 NPB amateur draft.
While Saito made his first appearance at the ichigun (Japanese equivalent of "major league") level in 1997, just his second year in the pros, his development was often hindered by his proneness to injury. In particular, Saito was plagued by a chronically loose shoulder joint, a condition so troubling for pitchers that coaches even suggested switching positions and becoming a hitter (as evidence of this, he was once called upon to pinch-hit in a nigun ("minor league" or "farm team") game, playing left field in the next inning). However, Saito refused and insisted upon remaining a pitcher.
After undergoing surgery on his right shoulder and missing the entire 1998 season due to rehab, Saito finally posted his first win with the ichigun in 2000. He went on to win five games that season, four of which were after the All-Star break in the thick of the pennant race, but was not called upon to start in the Japan Series when the Hawks eventually won the league title.
Expectations were considerably higher for Saito going into the 2001 season, and many hoped that he would emerge as the Hawks' staff ace for the future. Unfortunately, he was plagued by a mysterious pain in his shoulder and ended up sidelined for virtually all of the season, failing to record a single win. On August 10, 2002, in a game against the Osaka Kintetsu Buffaloes, he got his first regular season win in two years, eventually finishing the season with a 4-1 record and a 2.94 ERA.
Hawks manager Sadaharu Oh called Saito out in January prior to the 2003 season, saying, "Our ace [this year] is either Saito or [Hayato] Terahara." Saito was appointed the Opening Day starter for the first time in his career, taking the mound on March 28 against the Chiba Lotte Marines. Despite having only nine career wins up until that year, Saito had a phenomenal year, going 16–0 to start the season and later becoming the first 20-game winner in the Pacific League since Yoshinori Sato in 1985. Finishing the season with a 20–3 record, he led the league in wins and winning percentage (.870) and was tied for first in ERA (he and Daisuke Matsuzaka gave up the same number of earned runs in the same number of innings, posting identical ERAs of 2.83).
That year, then-Hanshin Tigers ace Kei Igawa had also posted 20 wins, making it the first time since 1982 that both Japanese leagues had produced 20-game winners. Incidentally, both pitchers received the Sawamura and Best Nine awards, making it also the first time that the Sawamura Award had ever been presented to two pitchers (one from the Central League, the other from the Pacific) in the same year. Saito led the Hawks to a Japan Series victory over Igawa's Tigers (the two faced each other in Game 1), marking their first championship since 1999.
Saito was appointed Opening Day starter for the second consecutive year to begin the 2004 season. However, he struggled to find his groove, struggling so much that he was sent down to the minors by mid-April. Though Saito eventually came back up and managed to record 10 wins (amidst seven losses), his season ERA of 6.26 was the worst single-season ERA by any pitcher that had thrown at least as many innings as their team had played games in Japanese professional baseball history. He was also lit up by the Lions in the second stage of the Pacific League playoffs.
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Kazumi Saito
Kazumi Saito (斉藤 和巳, Saitō Kazumi; born November 30, 1977) is a Japanese former professional baseball starting pitcher, and current fourth squad manager for the Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks of Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB). He was a two-time winner of the Eiji Sawamura Award (2003, 2006), but did not pitch in a regular season game after October 2007 due to various shoulder injuries.
Saito was marked as a top prospect by NPB scouts from his days at South Kyoto High School. He along with the current Hiroshima Toyo Carp pitcher Masayuki Hasegawa and Saitama Seibu Lions pitcher Tomoki Hoshino were dubbed the "Big Three" of their particular age group. The Fukuoka Daiei Hawks (currently the Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks) selected Saito with their first-round pick in the 1995 NPB amateur draft.
While Saito made his first appearance at the ichigun (Japanese equivalent of "major league") level in 1997, just his second year in the pros, his development was often hindered by his proneness to injury. In particular, Saito was plagued by a chronically loose shoulder joint, a condition so troubling for pitchers that coaches even suggested switching positions and becoming a hitter (as evidence of this, he was once called upon to pinch-hit in a nigun ("minor league" or "farm team") game, playing left field in the next inning). However, Saito refused and insisted upon remaining a pitcher.
After undergoing surgery on his right shoulder and missing the entire 1998 season due to rehab, Saito finally posted his first win with the ichigun in 2000. He went on to win five games that season, four of which were after the All-Star break in the thick of the pennant race, but was not called upon to start in the Japan Series when the Hawks eventually won the league title.
Expectations were considerably higher for Saito going into the 2001 season, and many hoped that he would emerge as the Hawks' staff ace for the future. Unfortunately, he was plagued by a mysterious pain in his shoulder and ended up sidelined for virtually all of the season, failing to record a single win. On August 10, 2002, in a game against the Osaka Kintetsu Buffaloes, he got his first regular season win in two years, eventually finishing the season with a 4-1 record and a 2.94 ERA.
Hawks manager Sadaharu Oh called Saito out in January prior to the 2003 season, saying, "Our ace [this year] is either Saito or [Hayato] Terahara." Saito was appointed the Opening Day starter for the first time in his career, taking the mound on March 28 against the Chiba Lotte Marines. Despite having only nine career wins up until that year, Saito had a phenomenal year, going 16–0 to start the season and later becoming the first 20-game winner in the Pacific League since Yoshinori Sato in 1985. Finishing the season with a 20–3 record, he led the league in wins and winning percentage (.870) and was tied for first in ERA (he and Daisuke Matsuzaka gave up the same number of earned runs in the same number of innings, posting identical ERAs of 2.83).
That year, then-Hanshin Tigers ace Kei Igawa had also posted 20 wins, making it the first time since 1982 that both Japanese leagues had produced 20-game winners. Incidentally, both pitchers received the Sawamura and Best Nine awards, making it also the first time that the Sawamura Award had ever been presented to two pitchers (one from the Central League, the other from the Pacific) in the same year. Saito led the Hawks to a Japan Series victory over Igawa's Tigers (the two faced each other in Game 1), marking their first championship since 1999.
Saito was appointed Opening Day starter for the second consecutive year to begin the 2004 season. However, he struggled to find his groove, struggling so much that he was sent down to the minors by mid-April. Though Saito eventually came back up and managed to record 10 wins (amidst seven losses), his season ERA of 6.26 was the worst single-season ERA by any pitcher that had thrown at least as many innings as their team had played games in Japanese professional baseball history. He was also lit up by the Lions in the second stage of the Pacific League playoffs.