Manabu Saito (baseball)

Manabu Saito (齋藤 学) is a Japanese former professional baseball pitcher, and current first squad pitching coach for the Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks of Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB).

He previously played for the Chunichi Dragons and the Fukuoka Daiei Hawks.

Early baseball career
Saito went on to Aoyama Gakuin University, where he went 8-3 in the spring of his senior year and was named best pitcher and best nine.

Active player era
On November 20, 1985, Saito was drafted by the Chunichi Dragons in the 1985 Nippon Professional Baseball draft.

During the Chunichi era, he pitched in 24 games in four seasons from 1986 to 1989, going a 0-1 Win–loss record with an ERA of 8.64.

He was traded to the Fukuoka Daiei Hawks for Kiyoshi Yamanaka and pitched in 111 games over eight seasons from the 1990 to 1997 seasons, posting a record of a 7-9 Win–loss record, a 3 Saves, and a 5.05 ERA.

After retirement
Saito retired and became the pitching coach for the Fukuoka Daiei Hawks in the 2001 season, having previously served as the first squad pitching coach, second squad pitching coach, and rehabilitation coach.

He's been the first squad pitching coach since the 2022 season.

He retired as coach after the 2023 season.