Nippon-Ham pitcher Takayuki Kato renewed his contract at ESCON on the 4th, signing for the same amount of 300 million yen (estimated amount), which will be the third year of his four-year contract next season.

This season, he has 9 wins and 6 losses in 20 appearances, with a ERA of 3.40. In CS, he only threw one inning with reliever. In the season, he did not reach the regulation innings pitched of 119 innings, and he recalled, "I couldn't throw more than last year in terms of the number of appearances and inning, which was frustrating."

Looking ahead to next season, he said, "I want to be a starter pitcher from the start of the season until the end, so that I can protect the rotation. I have a lot of issues to work on, but (this season) I often runs made mistakes in the early innings, and I can't throw long inning pitches. I want to refine my control once more and learn to control the ball in such a way that it is difficult to runs throw long pitches.