Lotte's fall practice was held at Zozo Marine Stadium on the 14th.

Koshiro Sakamoto pitched in 51 games in 2011 and 37 games in 2012, but this season he has only pitched in eight games. "I haven't been consistent, so I think I'll try to be more consistent," he said about his theme for this fall.

Specifically, he explained, "It's not just the weight, but also flexibility and my form is not consistent. There are a lot of unnecessary movements, so I'm practicing chipping away at those little by little to make them my own."

Speaking of Sakamoto, he has always said that as he grows bigger, he needs to improve his flexibility, but perhaps this is something different.

"Not only was I able to make my body bigger, but I also wasn't able to improve my flexibility. There were many days when my body was stiff, so I would like to be able to be a little more flexible in that area."

Looking back on this season, he said, "In one word, it was a frustrating season." The battle for next season has already begun.

◆ Kakinuma: "It was tough"

Tomoya Kakinuma who has not played in the first team since his rookie year in 2016, commented, "It was tough." He summarized his season by saying, "I wasn't called up to the first team from start to finish, and my playing time in the farm team was quite limited, so I had to produce results. It's been like that for the past few years, but that was even more difficult, or maybe it was tougher, but even so, I thought I did what I had to do and what I could do. I have no regrets about that, and I did a good job, so when it was all over, I was disappointed with the result, but I feel like I had a good year."

This fall, he says, "With the new coach, I've been reexamining my purpose in life, not to mention improving my own skills, and thinking about what I can do for the team, and I think I'll be working alongside the younger players in that regard as well, so I hope I can be a positive addition to the team in that sense as well."

"I'm currently working on new aspects of defense as catcher, so I hope to do better next year.If I continue like this, I'll end up feeling the same as last year and this year, so I'm hoping to incorporate something, although it's not a new approach, to improve again," he said, vowing to improve his level as catcher.

Interview and text by Yuta Iwashita