Tokyo 2020 Olympic baseball gold medallist Hayato Sakamoto hits 300th home run
WBSC Premier12 2019 champion and Tokyo 2020 Olympic baseball gold medallist Hayato Sakamoto became the 48th player in Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB) history to reach the 300-home run milestone on May 13, 2026, when he hit a walk-off home run in the 12th inning off Ryoji Kuribayashi of the Hiroshima Carp, another Tokyo 2020 gold medallist, at Seiren Dream Stadium in Fukui
Born in 1988, Sakamoto has spent his whole professional career with the Tokyo Yomiuri Giants. In 2020 he reached the 2000-hit milestone.
He started representing Japan on the international stage in 2012 and competed in the inaugural WBSC Premier12 in 2015.
Sakamoto was Japan's starting shortstop when they won the WBSC Premier12 2019. He posted a .308 batting average and didn't commit an error.
He also started at shortstop for Japan at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games, where he played again perfect defence and had a .333 batting average.
Only four active players have hit 300 home runs or more.
Legendary Sadaharu Oh leads NPB in home runs with 868. Katsuya Nomura follows with 657. Six players have 500+ home runs, and 12 are in the 400+ club.
There aren't any active players in the 500-homer club. The only active player with 400+ home runs is 42-year-old Takeya Nakamura (Saitama Seibu Lions), who represented Japan at the inaugural WBSC Premier12 in 2015.
WBSC Premier12 2019 and World Baseball Classic 2023 winner and Tokyo 2020 Olympic gold medallist Tetsuto Yamada (33, Tokyo Yakult Swallows) has 311 home runs. Tohoto Asamura (35, Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles), who also helped Japan win the WBSC Premier12 2019 and the Tokyo 2020 Olympics, has hit 306.
Sakamoto now has Wladimir Balentien and Nobuhiro Matsuda (301 home runs) in his sights.
Categories: Asia , Baseball , NPB , Olympic Baseball , Premier12 , World Baseball Classic
