After 10 years in affiliated ball and two seasons in Japan’s Nippon Professional Baseball league, infielder Gosuke Katoh is trading in his playing equipment for a gig behind the scenes. Days after announcing his retirement, Katoh revealed on his Instagram account that he has taken a job in the Blue Jays front office.
Katoh, 30, was born and raised in California, moving from the Bay Area to San Diego as a young child. The Yankees selected him out of high school in the second round of the 2013 draft, and he spent the next seven years working his way up the minor league ladder in their system. He elected minor league free agency after the 2019 campaign and proceeded to bounce between the Marlins, Padres, and Blue Jays organizations before finally getting the chance to make his major league debut. He made Toronto’s Opening Day roster in 2022, appearing in eight games before he was designated for assignment in early May. Across 11 plate appearances, he went 1-for-7 with three walks and a sacrifice bunt, scoring twice and striking out only once. The Mets claimed him off of waivers, and although they briefly recalled him from Triple-A for a handful of days, he never appeared in another big league game. New York DFA’d and outrighted him in June and released him at the end of the year.
Following the 2022 season, Katoh entered the NPB draft. (As a Japanese citizen, he had no choice but to be drafted before he could sign with an NPB club.) The Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters, his favorite team growing up, selected him in the third round, and he played for the Fighters in 2023 and ’24. Over those two years, he appeared in 90 games for the Fighters and another 64 with their minor league farm team in the Eastern League. Unfortunately, he had a particularly rough year at the plate this past season. Over 28 NPB games, he slashed .172/.238/.190 with one run, one RBI, and one extra-base hit.
Last Sunday, Katoh announced his retirement on Instagram, and yesterday, he revealed that he’ll be reuniting with the Blue Jays to take on an as-of-yet-unspecified role in the front office. The team has yet to confirm the news itself or provide any further details about Katoh’s role.