We haven’t mentioned him here in our short three months as East Windup Chronicle, but Saito Yuki (斎藤 佑樹) well-worth keeping an eye on if you aren’t already doing so.

In concluding his freshman year at  Waseda Univerity Saito became the first freshman pitcher to be named to the league’s ”Best Nine” all-star team in both the spring and autumn seasons.

On Oct. 30 Saito scattered four hits and struck out 15 batters, pitching his team to a 7-0 blanking of Keio Univerisity to clinch the Tokyo Big Six Title. He finished the season as the league leader in wins (4) and ERA (0.78).

Here are some highlight packages from different media covering the game where you can see clips from the Keio victory, and get a sense of the media crush already following this guy:

On Sept. 23 Saito picked up his first loss as a college pitcher, going six innings, losing 2-1 to Hosei Univeristy. However, he came back to pitch against Hosei again on one day’s rest, throwing a complete game 5-hitter. 

In the photo above Saito is shown with his famous blue hankerchief, which he goes to on the mound when under pressure. The hankerchief has become something of a trademark for Saito.