Player Profile #3 : Masaki Sato
28-yr-old first baseman Masaki Sato is one of Riyadh’s highest rated players. He was a first round draft pick, 12th overall in the 2036 amateur draft by the Vancouver Mounties. After less than 190 games in the minors and having played no higher than A ball, he made his BBA debut in 2039 at the age of 21. He swung his bat with power from the start, hitting 41 homers and collecting 117 RBI in his rookie season; he also managed a triple slash line of .282/.345/.553. He went on to only miss 61 BBA games for the Mounties in the next four years, adding 123 more homes and 383 more RBI. In his over 700 BBA games for Vancouver, he scored 400 runs & walked just shy of 300 times.
In 2044 the Mounties traded him on to the Edmonton Jackrabbits and he went on to add another 147 BBA appearances to his tally hitting 35 more homers, 86 RBI while scoring 70 times and working 48 walks. Edmonton didn’t offer him another contract though and he was on the market for 2045. Omaha splashed the cash, and he signed a three year deal worth $29 million. Unfortunately for him he only made 83 appearances for the Cyclones with just 17 homers & 36 RBI. The end of his BBA career had come fast as Omaha bought out of his contract at the end of 2045. Nineteen games short of 1,000 BBA games he had hit 923 times including 216 homers and 622 RBI. His career batting average of .255/.327/.489 and his WAR total of only 4.3 perhaps told its own story, his one personal award was the MVP medal from the 2041 Frick League Doubleday Series.
2046 saw him join the UMEBA when he signed a two-year $6.7 million deal with Riyadh. Eleven days after penning his contract he collected the Burt League player of the week award. In his first 23 games for the Red Crescents he has hit .302 and contributed five homers and 19 RBI. His stats may well be sliding as he passes his 30th birthday, but he’s still good enough in Riyadh’s opinion to be a leading light in their team and maybe even the UMEBA.
