by Alexa Wilkins
Staff Writer

About 5,000 miles away from home, Osei Kimura and Eiji Sato, both 20-year-olds from Japan,  sought new opportunities for their baseball careers in America; they grew up not knowing each other in opposite towns outside of Tokyo, to being teammates on the same baseball team across the world in Oregon City.

In 2023 Kimura and Sato moved to America, leaving their families behind to chase their dreams.

Although they have a different backstory on how they ended up at CCC, their recruitment process was the same.

In Japan Kimura and Sato had their own “agent”, who would take clips of them playing/pitching well and send it to all the schools along the West Coast.

Eiji said, “For coming here, my agent sent my videos to the college guys, college coaches, and then the college coaches sent an offer to us.”

Eiji Sato at the pitcher’s mound looking out towards the batter’s box. Photo by Evan Tichenor

That widened their opportunities and allowed for coaches of any schools interested to reach out and recruit them.

Both players had a handful of options to pick from; Kimura made his choice and committed to be a Clackamas Cougar, and moved to start his freshman year in the US.

Sato’s coming-up story was a little bit different.

In 2023 Sato committed to play baseball at Mt. Hood Community College.

In his first year, he was told that he couldn’t be on the roster because he was new but that next year would be his time. He was eligible to play in the fall of 2024 but did not see any playing time, even though Eiji claims his batting skills would have been beneficial to the team.

In his one and half terms playing for CCC, he earned a .400 on base percentage.

Sato spoke on his relationship with his teammates and coaching staff, saying “My teammates are good, the coaches are so nice and trying to make me get better.”

Kimura and Sato said they came to the United States to improve their English and because baseball practices in Japan are intense. “We have, like, long ass practice, like 8 hours,” Sato said.

Kimura said, “Sometimes we got 10-12 hours of practice a weekend.”

Kimura showing off his game face. Photo by Alexa Wilkins

Eiji said when he played baseball in high school, “I want to hit home runs for my stats, not for a team. My team was not super competitive and then the nice high schools can go to nice universities like college in Japan.”

Kimura is a right handed pitcher who pitched for six games with 22 total strikeouts.

“It makes me tired,” Kimura said. “After I pitch, pretty much, the next day is really hard.”

Kimura explained his recovery routine, “The trainer, I see him everyday before the class or before practice, or before the game, and stretching out myself,” he said.

Sato is a pitcher and an outfielder, however, he is currently dealing with a shoulder injury, limiting him to playing mostly outfield. In his four appearances at the mound pitching for CCC, he’s gotten seven strikeouts. However, outfield proved to be a strong suit for him, as he has a fielding percentage of .960 in the 16 games he’s played this season.

Sato grinned and motioned towards his friend Kimura, saying “Yeah, and my friend is here too.” They are both happy with their decision to play for CCC.

Osei Kimura and Eiji Sato smiling for the camera. Photo by Alexa Wilkins