Kōki Saitō (baseball)
Japanese baseball player (born 1996)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Kōki Saitō (齋藤 綱記, Saitō Kōki; born December 18, 1996) is a professional Japanese baseball player. He plays pitcher for the Chunichi Dragons. He previously played for the Orix Buffaloes and the Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters.
| Kōki Saitō 齋藤 綱記 | |
|---|---|
| |
| Chunichi Dragons – No. 59 | |
| Pitcher | |
| Born: December 18, 1996 Kita-ku, Sapporo, Hokkaido, Japan | |
Bats: Left Throws: Left | |
| NPB debut | |
| 18 September, 2016, for the Chunichi Dragons | |
| NPB statistics (through July 22, 2026) | |
| Win–loss record | 14–7 |
| Earned run average | 3.33 |
| Strikeouts | 179 |
| Teams | |
| |
Professional career
Starting his career at the Orix Buffaloes, Saitō was traded to the Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters for catcher, Ryō Ishikawa of the Orix Buffaloes.[1] Less than a year later, Saitō would be involved in a trade alongside Shingo Usami for Yūya Gunji and Takumi Yamamoto of the Chunichi Dragons.[2]
Pitching style
Saitō's fastball tops out at 144 km/h. His normal pitch mix includes a vertical and horizontal moving slider, a curveball, a changeup and a splitter.[3] In 2017, he switched to a side-throwing action with the addition of fellow lefty, Daiki Tajima in the first round of the draft, adding more spin to his slider and improving hitting his spots inside.[4] On being traded to the Dragons, under the tutelage of Akinori Otsuka, Saito switched to a three-quarter delivery increasing his velocity and whiff rate with his slider.[5]