When then-Yomiuri Giants shortstop Tomohiro Nioka tore his calf muscle during the 2008 season opener, a star was born.
In the year since taking over for the fallen Giants star, shortstop Hayato Sakamoto, is starting to live up to the hype.
At 22-10-2 the Giants have Japanese baseball's best record and Sakamoto has been showing the way. Through Wednesday, he was leading the team with a .372 batting average and ranked in home runs (6, tied with Alex Ramirez) and RBIs (22).