Last Sunday Giants shortstop Hayato Sakamoto became the latest player to reach 2000 hits in Japan and I believe the first since Kazuya Fukuura in 2018. At 42 years and nine months Fukuura was the second oldest player to get his 2000th hit while at 31 years and 10 months Sakamoto is the second youngest player to reach the milestone. Sakamoto is young enough to possibly become the second player in NPB history to get 3000 hits and make a run at Isao Harimoto's NPB record 3085 hits.
Sakamoto's been a star for the Giants pretty much ever since they drafted him out of high school with the first pick in the 2006 high school draft. He made the Opening Day lineup at shortstop in 2008 and has been there ever since. His first home run was a record setter - he became the youngest player to ever hit a grand slam in Central League history on April 6, 2008. He's an 11 time All Star, a five time Best 9 winner and a three time Golden Glove winner. He led the Central League in hits in 2012 and batting in 2016 and was the league MVP in 2019. He's played in five Nippon Series and won two of them. He's suited up for Samurai Japan four times - twice for the World Baseball Classic (2013 & 2017) and twice for the Premier 12 (2015 & 2019). He hit the first home run in Premier 12 history and also had the first home run of the Reiwa Era on May 1st, 2019.
Here's a bunch of his baseball cards including his BBM rookie cards from the 2007 Rookie Edition and 1st Version sets:
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| 2007 BBM Rookie Edition #67 |
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| 2007 BBM 1st Version #352 |
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| 2008 SCM #98 |
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| 2009 BBM All Stars #A55 |
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| 2010 Giants Pride #6 |
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| 2011 BBM 1st Version #231 |
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| 2012 BBM Nippon Series #S20 |
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| 2013 Topps Tribute WBC #64 |
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| 2014 Front Runner Giants Stars & Legends #7 |
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| 2015 Bandai Owners League 01 #021 |
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| 2016 Calbee #187 |
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| 2017 BBM Giants #G43 |
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| 2018 Konami Baseball Collection #201810-N-G006-00 |
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| 2019 Epoch One #148/YG-020 |
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| 2020 Epoch NPB #236 |
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