Scouting grades 20–80
60Fastball
45Slider
65Splitter
50Control
Hailing from Aomori, Japan, Sato elected to head stateside in hopes of speeding up his professional timeline. He commited to Penn State to play his one year of collegiate baseball (assuming he gets drafted in 2027).
Sato has a smaller 5-11, 177 pound frame that will surely be criticized as a the draft approaches, but the stuff is electric. Sato has touched 99 mph with his fastball which features some hop and tailing action. He throws a filthy low-90s splitter as his main secondary, with a tertiary slider that is solid. Getting collegiate data on Sato will help sure up evaluations, but the arsenal looks good from afar, with the breaking ball probably being the biggest critique at the moment.
Sato is extremely athletic and he's been a solid strike-thrower historically. He'll have to dominate in his 1 year sample given there's little track-record here compared to other top arms.
