is a professional

Japanese Japanese may refer to: * Something from or related to Japan, an island country in East Asia * Japanese language, spoken mainly in Japan * Japanese people, the ethnic group that identifies with Japan through ancestry or culture ** Japanese diaspor ...

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball sport played between two team sport, teams of nine players each, taking turns batting (baseball), batting and Fielding (baseball), fielding. The game occurs over the course of several Pitch ...

player. He plays

catcher Catcher is a position in baseball and softball. When a batter takes their turn to hit, the catcher crouches behind home plate, in front of the (home) umpire, and receives the ball from the pitcher. In addition to this primary duty, the catc ...

for the

Chunichi Dragons The are a professional baseball team based in Nagoya, the chief city in the Chūbu region of Japan. The team plays in the Central League of Nippon Professional Baseball. They have won the Central League pennant nine times (most recently in 2011 ...

, and formerly played for the

Chiba Lotte Marines The are a professional baseball team in Japan's Pacific League based in Chiba, Chiba, Chiba City, Chiba Prefecture, in the Kantō region, and owned by Lotte Holdings, Lotte Holdings Co., Ltd. The Marines were a founding member of the Pacific Le ...

Early career

Katō started playing baseball in elementary school and was a pitcher when he reached junior high. At Mie High School, in his freshman year he converted to catching and by fall of his junior year he had become a regular behind the dish. He took part in the Spring Invitational in his senior year where he caught the attention of scouts after throwing out a runner. He was regular catcher at

Aoyama Gakuin University is a private Christian university in Shibuya, Tokyo, Japan. Originally established in 1874 by missionaries from the Methodist Episcopal Church, it was reconfigured in its current form in 1949 as tertiary component of the Aoyama Gakuin. The u ...

from fall of his first year where he learned to adapt his release from behind the plate to catch faster, more skilled runners. On 22 October 2014, Katō was selected 5th by the

at the 2014 NPB Draft and on 16 November signed a provisional contract with a ¥35,000,000 sign-on bonus and a ¥8,000,000 yearly salary

Professional career

2015-2018

On 31 May 2015, Katō made his first professional appearance as a defensive replacement against the Hokkaido Nippon Ham Fighters. On 22 May 2016 against the

Yomiuri Giants The are a Japanese professional baseball team competing in Nippon Professional Baseball's Central League. Based in Bunkyo, Tokyo, they are one of two professional baseball teams based in Tokyo, the other being the Tokyo Yakult Swallows. They h ...

, Katō made his first

plate appearance In baseball, a player is credited with a plate appearance (denoted by PA) each time he completes a turn batting. Under Rule 5.04(c) of the Official Baseball Rules, a player completes a turn batting when he is put out or becomes a runner. This ha ...

in the 8th inning where he fell to a first base foul fly. On 25 November 2016, Katō was selected alongside Ryōsuke Nomura, Shōta Suzuki, Ryōta Ishioka, Hayato Mizowaki and Hiroki Kondō to take part in the 2016 Asia Winter Baseball League. In 2017, Katō made only one appearance in the Dragons first team while in 2018 he failed to make any appearances

2019-Present

With incoming coaches

Tsutomu Itō is the former manager of Nippon Professional Baseball's Seibu Lions. He was the number 1 draft pick for the Seibu Lions in 1982 and went on to play for them until 2003. He was talented at leading pitcher, and led his team to winning 12 Pacific L ...

and Takeshi Nakamura wanting to solidify the catching position, Katō was identified, along with his "bazooka" arm to be given more time in the first-team to develop. With the team adopting a 3-catcher rotation of mainly Katō, Shōta Ōno and Takuya Kinoshita, he played in a total of 92 games, the most of any Chunichi catcher, batting .228. On 15 June 2021, it was announced that Kato had been traded to the

for outfielder Shohei Kato.

Play style

Katō's biggest asset is his strong arm nicknamed the "Katō bazooka". He has been measured at a pop-time of 1.8 seconds. Chunichi coaches

and Takeshi Nakamura have said that "his arm rivals that of (Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks catcher)

Takuya Kai is a Japanese professional baseball catcher for the Yomiuri Giants of the Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB). He has previously played in NPB for the Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks. Professional career Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks On October 28, 2010, Kai wa ...

while also mentioning that "smoke comes off the ball when he throws it". In the 2018 Western League season against the stolen base league leaders, the

Hanshin Tigers The are a Nippon Professional Baseball team playing in the Central League. The team is based in Nishinomiya, Hyōgo Prefecture, Japan, next to their main stadium, Hanshin Koshien Stadium. The Tigers are owned by Hanshin Electric Railway Co., ...

, Katō threw out 8 consecutive runners.

Personal

The

Dragons A dragon is a magical legendary creature that appears in the folklore of multiple cultures worldwide. Beliefs about dragons vary considerably through regions, but dragons in Western cultures since the High Middle Ages have often been depict ...

were Katō's local team as a boy and he recalls coming to

Nagoya Dome The Nagoya Dome (ナゴヤドーム), known as Vantelin Dome Nagoya (バンテリンドームナゴヤ) for sponsorship reasons, is a domed baseball stadium, constructed in 1997, located in the city of Nagoya, Japan. The dome has the capacity of ...

twice to cheer on the team. Upon signing for the Dragons, Katō mentioned "I'm very happy to be putting on the uniform of the club I supported as a kid." On 28 May 2018, Katō married, Kana, an office worker from

Aichi prefecture is a Prefectures of Japan, prefecture of Japan located in the Chūbu region of Honshū. Aichi Prefecture has a population of 7,461,111 () and a geographic area of with a population density of . Aichi Prefecture borders Mie Prefecture to the ...

External links

NPB.com

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kato, Takuma 1992 births Living people category:Aoyama Gakuin University alumni Baseball people from Mie Prefecture Japanese baseball players Nippon Professional Baseball catchers Chunichi Dragons players Chiba Lotte Marines players Sportspeople from Matsusaka, Mie