Despite promoting Vision 2025, Lotte finished last in the league for the first time in eight years this season. Manager Masahito Yoshii will retire at the end of this season, and next season will see a fresh start under new manager Saburo.
Under former manager Yoshii, the relief pitchers basically pitched three games in a row, and did not pitch more than four times in a week, and pitching was well managed. Looking at pitcher who pitched three games in a row in the three years, in 2023, only Hirokazu Sawamura pitched three games in a row in the first baseman stage of the Climax Series against Softbank in the CS, and no pitcher pitched three games in a row that season. The following year, in 2024, Naoya Masuda did it once, and this season, no pitcher have pitched three games in a row.
Regarding pitcher who made four or more appearances in a week, in 2011 Koshiro Sakamoto did it twice, and Naoya Masuda and Tojo Daiki did it once each, but in 2012 no pitcher made four appearances in a week, and this season Rikuto Yokoyama to do so.
They did not have a set winning pattern, but rather looked at the opposing team's batting order and the condition of their players, and often used multiple winning patterns to escape.
The starters Kazuya Ojima have reached the five consecutive years and Atsuki Taneichi the two consecutive years of regulation innings pitched and are expected to continue to be the axis next season. In this context, we are concerned about how to operate the youngsters, including Haruya Tanaka and Yuto Kimura, and the veterans, including Yuji Nishino and Shuta Ishikawa.
Tanaka started on July 18 against Orix and on August 3 against Seibu with six days between starts, but Kimura, a high school graduate in his second year, was removed from the roster after making one appearance after transitioning to a starter. During that time, he practiced pitch in bullpen more, but in his final appearance of the season on September 24 against Seibu, he started with seven days between starts and recorded his first shutout game win as a pro. He proved that he can produce results even with short intervals between appearances.
How does new manager Saburo plan to use his pitcher staff at this point?
"To be honest, I don't know much about pitcher, so I'll leave that to the pitching staff and learn as I go along. When it comes to spacing and things like that, I felt that Yoshii's method had both good and bad points, so I'd like to keep the good parts and change the bad parts."
This season Lotte struggled with a team ERA league worst 3.60, starter ERA also 3.48, and relievers ERA 3.82. The starters, anchored by Taneichi and Kojima, Shuta Ishikawa, Boss, Yuto Kimura, Sammons, Yuji Nishino, Haruya Tanaka, Yuki Karakawa, Tokito Kawamura had the numbers, but they did not work very well. The relievers, Naoya Masuda, the guardian god, Shota Suzuki, and the set-up man, Shunsuke Nakamori, were in a winning pattern in the first half, but did not pitch in the second half, and finally, Shuta Takano and Rikuto Yokoyama were responsible for winning games. The relievers seemed to have struggled throughout the season, as there was no pitcher to fill the long relief role that Takano and Yokoyama had filled in the first half of the season. It will be interesting to see how Saburo will manage the pitcher lineup next season when he takes the helm.
Interview and text by Yuta Iwashita
