[1] He was regular catcher at Aoyama Gakuin University from fall of his first year where he learned to adapt his release from behind the plate to catch faster, more skilled runners.

On 22 May 2016 against the Yomiuri Giants, Katō made his first plate appearance in the 8th inning where he fell to a first base foul fly.

On 25 November 2016, Katō was selected alongside Ryōsuke Nomura, Shōta Suzuki, Ryōta Ishioka, Hayato Mizowaki and Hiroki Kondō to take part in the 2016 Asia Winter Baseball League.

[5][6] With the team adopting a 3-catcher rotation of mainly Katō, Shōta Ōno and Takuya Kinoshita,[7] he played in a total of 92 games, the most of any Chunichi catcher, batting .228.

[10] Chunichi coaches Tsutomu Itō and Takeshi Nakamura have said that "his arm rivals that of (Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks catcher) Takuya Kai while also mentioning that "smoke comes off the ball when he throws it".