Gosho Kato, who made his major league debut this season and was nominated by Nippon Ham in third place at the professional baseball draft meeting held last week, left the 3A team under the Mets to which he belonged.
Kato is 28 years old from California.
He is a utility player who can defend both the infield and the outfield and is known for his quick feet.In his 10th year as a professional, he became the first Blue Jays to be promoted to the major leagues and appeared in 8 games, hitting his first hit. rice field.
He attracted attention for being the first Japanese fielder to enter the major leagues without any experience playing professional baseball, but the Blue Jays were out of the force in May, and he did not have a chance to play in the Mets, where he transferred to. He continued to play for the Syracuse Mets in League 3A.
Kato was nominated by Nippon-Ham in 3rd place at the professional baseball draft meeting held on the 20th of this month, and on his own Twitter, "I am surprised and very honored. I am currently contracted with the Mets. Regarding the future, I would like to consult with the people around me and think about it carefully." However, "Syracuse Mets" announced that Kato left the team as a free contract on the 25th.
Now that the team Kato belonged to has become a free contract, there will be no obstacles to joining Nippon-Ham, and attention will be paid to whether joining negotiations will progress in the future.