Hanshin’s Teruaki Sato finished the Central League season with a .306 average, 39 home runs and 106 RBIs. He is the club’s first Japanese Triple Crown winner.
Teruaki Sato of the Hanshin Tigers clinched the Central League Triple Crown on Thursday, Chunichi Sports reported after Hanshin’s final game, a 4-0 loss to Yakult at Koshien. Sato, 27, went 0-for-4 batting second and playing third. Teammate Shota Morishita, four home runs behind, also did not homer, so the title held.
Chunichi listed Sato at a .306 average, 39 home runs and 106 RBIs. Nikkan Sports added 165 hits, which it said also led the league. The last Nippon Professional Baseball Triple Crown was Munetaka Murakami of Yakult in 2022. Chunichi called Sato the ninth player and the 13th Triple Crown in Japanese baseball.
For Hanshin, the last Triple Crown winner was Randy Bass in 1985 and 1986. Chunichi said Sato is the club’s first Japanese winner. Because Bass played when Koshien still had a lucky zone, the paper called this the first Hanshin Triple Crown in the larger park.
Nikkan Sports said the champion Tigers, who clinched a second straight league title on 3 October, took nine individual awards. Haruto Takahashi won 16 games and the winning-percentage title. Shoki Murakami led earned-run average at 1.85, and Hiroto Saiki led strikeouts with 175.
The figures come from the two Japanese sports papers after the schedule ended. Official league award announcements were not quoted in those reports.