but also his hard slider and being dubbed one of the "High School Big Three" along with Osaka Tōin Senior High School slugger Sho Nakata and Narita High School right-hander Yuki Karakawa. The Sendai-based Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles, Swallows, BayStars, Chunichi Dragons and Yomiuri Giants all selected Sato with their first-round picks, but the Swallows drew the winning straw, signing him to a base salary of 15 million yen, a signing bonus of 100 million yen and additional performance-based incentives and presenting him the uniform number 11 on 11 November. Professional career 2008 In , his rookie season, Sato was assigned to the Swallows' ichigun (Japanese equivalent of "major league") team for Spring training, but complained of pain in his left ankle in late February. While the condition was deemed minor and Sato was cleared to play in preseason games, he went 0–2 with a 13.50 ERA, allowing 14 hits in just six innings, and was sent down to the nigun team ("minor league" or "farm team") for the season opener. He focused on rehabbing his ankle, coming on in relief in a game against the Giants on 13 April and pitching one scoreless inning in his Eastern League debut. Sato went on to earn a spot in the nigun team's starting rotation, going 8–5 with a 4.17 ERA in 15 appearances and striking out 71 in innings before being called up to the ichigun team for the first time in late August. He made his professional debut on 30 August, starting a game against the BayStars but giving up six runs (five earned) on six hits and lasting just innings (the Swallows came back to win the game 9–8). Sato made his second start in a game against the Giants on 6 September, allowing three runs over six innings while striking out eight for the first win of his professional career and snapping the Swallows' eight-game losing streak to the Giants (prompting the Japanese media to dub him the "Giants Killer"). However, he was charged with his first loss in his next start against the Giants on 14 September, allowing three runs over six innings while striking out seven (he knocked in his first career RBI on a sacrifice fly in the fifth inning). On 8 October, Sato earned his second win of the season against the BayStars, holding the team to one run on just two hits over