Musharraf Khan and Faisal Hayat make history, become first pro baseball players from Pakistan

Musharraf Khan and Faisal Hayat became the first two professional baseball players from Pakistan. The right-handed pitchers joined the Saga Asia Dreams in the Kyushu Asia League, a five-team independent league in the Japanese Kyushu Island, the most southern of the four largest islands in the archipelago.

Faisal Hayat, 21, is a side-arm pitcher who became a national hero when he defeated India in a friendly game in Dubai. Musharraf Khan, who will turn 20 in 2025, is a 6-foot-7 (or 2.04m) right-hander known as the hardest-thrower in Pakistan who pitched at the 2023 Asian Baseball Championship.

The SAGA Asia Dreams primarily consists of players from countries, where baseball has a smaller following compared to the big leagues regions: Indonesia, Sri Lanka, the Philippines, Singapore and Pakistan. Rizki Ramadhan, the team captain, is from Indonesia. The roster includes three Japanese players. Ryoji Katsuki, 41, who pitched for the Chiba Lotte Marines of Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB) from 2010 to 2016, manages the team.

"It's unparalleled in the world," said Yuji Fukuhara, the 41-year-old president of Neo Asia Japan, the management company that set up the team, in an interview with the Japan Times.

Fukuhara established the baseball club after visiting Indonesia in 2018 as part of a Tohto University Junko Baseball League delegation to promote baseball in Asia, acknowledging the passion for the game among the local youth.

According to the Japan Times, the players earn an annual salary of about ¥1.5 million (about $9,600).

"I wanted to create a stage where they can make [enough] money by playing baseball," Fukuhara said.

As a student of the Higashi Fukuoka High School (Fukuoka Prefecture), Fukuhara competed in the Summer Koshien. His baseball career continued in the Industrial Leagues. He is now on a mission to develop baseball in Asian countries where it is unpopular, starting with his team in the Saga Prefecture.

"I would be glad if many players from baseball backwater countries win contracts as professional players, rather than if our team alone achieves progress," he told The Japan Times.

The Kyushu Asia League.is a five-team league. Participants include the Hikokuni Salamanders, Oita B-Rings, Kitakyushu Simonoseki Phoenix, Miyazaki Sunshines.