Saito ‘ready to dedicate himself’ to D-backs

July 21, 2012: Takashi Saito activated, set to make debut

Seven months after agreeing to a contract with the Diamondbacks, Takashi
Saito is ready to make his sedona red debut.

The right-handed relief pitcher was activated Saturday.

“He’s ready to dedicate himself to this team,” manager Kirk Gibson said.

Saito has been on the 15-day disabled list since April after a suffering a
strained right medial calf during spring training. During his recovery from
that injury, he experienced some shoulder discomfort and then was also
slowed by illness.

However, after throwing three scoreless innings with four strikeouts in
three appearances for the Arizona League D-backs, Saito proclaimed
himself healthy and ready to go.

“He said he was ready for better competition,” according to Gibson. “I
said, ‘Well, there’s some pretty good competition here.'”

Gibson expects the 42-year-old veteran to be rusty at the start. He’ll be
used—at least initially, as a sixth or seventh inning guy out of the
bullpen.

“We saw Saito,” Gibson said, “as somebody who has a ton of experience and
knows how to pitch in leverage situations. That’s an advantage for us.”

Saito will become the first-ever player of Japanese descent to pitch for the
D-backs when he appears in a game.

—

Last month, Bryan Shaw had a stretch of ten straight scoreless outings.
He’s since followed that up with ten runs allowed in 4.1 innings pitched in
his last six games.

“He’s struggling a little bit right now,” Gibson said. “We’ll continue to talk
to him about that, continue to encourage him.”

Gibson said Shaw is “aiming the ball a little bit. [There’s] less action on it.”

Shaw gave up a 9th inning three-run home run to Scott Moore last night
and has allowed seven runs (five earned) in his last two outings.

—

John McDonald (strained left oblique) is nearing a return. He recently
played nine innings in back-to-back rookie league games.

“These guys say ‘Oh yeah, I played nine innings. I’m ready to play.’ In my
mind, that’s certainly a good first step,” Gibson said.

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