is a Japanese professional baseball pitcher who is currently a free agent. He has played in Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB) for the Tokyo Yakult Swallows and Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles. Early life Sato was born in Sendai, the capital city of Miyagi Prefecture. His parents and older brother convinced him to begin playing baseball in the fourth grade. (His brother, Hisanori, would later go on to Tohoku High School, where he would become batterymates with current Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters right-hander Yu Darvish as the team's backup catcher.) He was chosen to the Little League Japanese national team in his first year (the equivalent of seventh grade in the United States) at Sendai Municipal North Sendai Junior High School and pitched a no-hitter against the Russian team, but did not play for his school's baseball team, instead choosing to join the school's track and field team while playing for a Little Senior team instead. High school career 2005 to Spring 2007 Sato went on to enroll at Sendai Ikuei Gakuen High School in 2005. Though he failed to reach even when he entered high school and was initially made the backup third baseman, he was clocking by the fall of his first year (tenth grade) and began to draw local attention as a pitcher. He led the school to a berth in the 88th National High School Baseball Championship in the summer of his junior year (2006), going the distance while striking out 11 en route to a 5–1 win over Tokushima Commercial High School in the first round as the team's ace pitcher on 7 August. However, he allowed four runs on seven hits and five walks despite striking out 13 against Nihon University Yamagata Senior High School in the next round, ultimately being charged with the decision in a 6–3 loss on 13 August. Sendai Ikuei Gakuen High won the Tohoku Regional Tournament that fall, securing a berth in the 79th National High School Baseball Invitational Tournament that would be held in the spring of 2007. However, while Sato pitched well against Tokoha Gakuen Kikugawa High School in the first round (now as a senior) on 23 March, striking out 14 while allowing just two runs and clocking , his team was held to just one run in a disappointing 2–1 loss and first-round exit (Tokoha Gakuen Kikugawa High went on to become the tournament champions). Summer 2007 Already