"First of all, I feel a great sense of regret, and I was conflicted about whether what I had been doing was enough, but I believe I practice more than anyone on the team. I continued hitting indoors and training until the very end, so I think the good thing about this year is that I stuck to what I had been doing and what I needed to do."
This season has been a disappointing one for Lotte's Aito, but he has stuck to what he can do and what he needs to do throughout the year.
Looking ahead to this season, he has changed his style to aim for long hits, saying, "Not only am I hitting in the opposite direction, but my form is also different. I have made some major changes to my batting style because I have a vision of how I want to be and how I want to do things."
This year he also did voluntary training with Hideto Asamura (Rakuten) and others, and he learned a lot, saying, "This year I listened to a lot, I was taught a lot, and it was a voluntary training that taught me a lot about how to hit and how to use my body."
At the Ishigakijima spring training camp, he swung the bat together with Ko Matsukawa after the whole team practice, and was always the last to leave the stadium. At last year's Ishigakijima spring training camp, he decided on a theme and practiced on it after the whole team practice, but this year he said, "At the end, I hit fastball, but I also do long tees and hit slow balls, and when the ball is lulled or jammed, there are few at-bats where I can hit it at the perfect timing and in the perfect spot, so Asamura was using a style of hitting that would send the ball flying even if the ball was lulled a little, or even if it was stuck a little. If I swam, I didn't just keep swimming, I would send the ball flying even if it was lulled, and even if it was jammed, I would send the ball flying." He swung the bat with a goal in mind, rather than just practicing a lot.
During the exhibition games, starting line-up said, "When I go for it head-on, it's about how well I can do it. If I can hit a long ball, that's great. I think I can hit the ball strong and improve my swing in practice and in games," and he hit home runs in both the match against DeNA on March 4 and Hiroshima on the 6th as Home Run.
◆ Farm team starts the season
He started the season with the farm team, but in April he played in 24 games with a batting average of .319 (22 out of 69) with one Home Run and 10 RBI, and in May he played in 15 games with a batting average of .356 (21 out of 59) with one Home Run and six RBI.
On April 12th, in a game against Seibu' second team, in the 8th inning with the score at 3-1 and runners on first and third, he was at bat for the 4th time, and on the first pitch thrown by Yoshinobu Mizukami, he hit a 2-run doble double to right-center field, and his hits to right-center field were very good. Is hitting to "right-center field" one of the indicators of good form?
"That's not true, but I'm the type of person who can hit in either direction. I try to be able to hit both ways, not just to the right or in the pull direction."
On April 6, in a 2-0 game against DeNA, with one out in the 5th inning against Yoto Shoji, he hit the second pitch from 1 ball to Yoto Shoji with a no-step batting strategy, carrying a 130 km slider in front of center fielder while jamming the ball. He also hit "no-step-like" pitches.
Regarding that, he told us, "It's something I do in practice. When it comes to a match, I have to be able to respond flexibly, so it's something I keep in my arsenal."
On April 5, with two outs and one out in the fifth inning of a 3-0 win over DeNA Nigun, Aito quickly handled a hit to left-center field by Takaki Dokai at second base center fielder Aito quickly handled the runner second base and didn't miss Ryunosuke Kuriihara, throw to second base and touched out on second base. He made an out before the runner runner second base, so he made a good play that didn't allow a run. On May 18, in the third inning of a game against the Yakult Second Army, 0-4, he showed his defense ability on the farm many times, such as catch or catch a difficult hit by Ruito Nishimura to right field with a bounce short stop bounce or a bounce to throw to second base, and a quick to second base for a force out.
"I haven't changed anything defense and I'm just doing what I've always done, so I think it's going well."
I thought that I would have to show defense and base running results as well as batting in order to get up there. base running I think the only thing I can do is to catch the opponent's gap, so rather than being aggressive base running, I tried to catch the opponent's gap base running." On April 25, in a 0-0 second inning game against DeNA, with one out and one on, he touched up from first base to second base on a fly out behind left field by Koki Yamaguchi. On May 23, against Rakuten the second team, 1-0 in the fifth inning against the second team, 1-0, with no outs, he scored on a triple stolen base on the second pitch from 1 strike of Katsuya Kakunaka. The same day against Rakuten, with one out bases loaded in the 4-1 8th inning, he touched up from first to second on Seiichiro Oshita 's sacrifice fly to Wright and came back alive on Kazuki Fujita 's timely hit, showing his "seamless base running".
◆ Pinch hitter bunt
He was promoted for the first time this season on May 27th. Despite limited playing time, he made his presence felt with pinch-hit bunting. He has executed all four sacrifice bunting attempts on the first pitch this season, scoring three of them.
Looking back at the occasions when he decided to send bunt four times this season: on June 5 against The Giants, a 1-1 10th inning groundout, on June 11 against Hiroshima, a 2-2 9th inning groundout, on June 15 against Yakult, a 4-4 9th inning groundout, and on August 2 against Seibu, a 4 On June 5 against The Giants, a Akito Takabe pushout Hit by Pitch, on June 15 against Yakult, a Katsuya Kakunaka sacrifice fly led to a walk-off win, and on August 2 against Seibu, a Yudai Fujioka temporary win doble.
When asked about situations where he has to be 100% sure he will make a sacrifice bunt, Aito said, "Personally, I don't concentrate too much. I don't think I'll definitely make it. The more I think about it, the more I freeze up. I don't think about making it. I just relax as much as possible and keep the bat in front of me. I don't change the angle from here. I just imagine that if it comes, I'll hit it with the bat." His high success rate is due to his daily preparations.
During pre-game practice at their home ground, Zozo Marine Stadium they practiced bunting carefully against the bunt machine, but instead of just practicing bunting against the machine, they practice bunting by getting close to the machine. Regarding the intention behind this, Aito explained, "If I can do it with a fast ball at close range, I can definitely do it farther. It's easy, so it's my own style. Once I've done it, I take a step forward and repeat that many times, and if I go all the way to the front and then move back to the back, it's easy."
Aito is good at bunting and hitting with his right-handed hitter, but when it comes to his focus on long hits, he says, "I feel like that's all I'm focusing on. My focus on long hits hasn't changed, and I'm just working on the shape and form to hit long hits." His attitude remains unwavering.
During fall practice, which lasted until the 27th, he said, "Anyone can hit home run by pulling, so Asamura-san's characteristic is to hit a long ball in the right direction. I think the final form is to have a high probability of home run when you pull it, so I'm trying to get there, and I'm thinking, if I hit it like this, I can put it in the ball in a good way and it will fly." He took it upon himself to practice hitting with no steps, hitting in the opposite direction, and hitting for long balls.
"My mindset is to play in the game. I'll think about what I can do to make sure I get to play." With the team currently at the bottom of the league this season, Aito has had few opportunities to strengthen defense or pinch-hit bunts, but if the team is in standings to compete for the championship, his defense, sacrifice bunt, and base running will be invaluable in games where every point counts. I hope that next season will be a year in which all the hard work he has put in so far will pay off.
Interview and text by Yuta Iwashita
