The 50th Japan Amateur baseball Championship will be held at Kyocera Dome Osaka from Tuesday, October 28th. This year marks the 50th anniversary of the tournament, which began in 1974. Eight players selected by NPB teams at the 2025 Professional baseball Draft Conference supported by Lipovitan D on Thursday, October 23rd, are scheduled to participate.

Five players took to the stage at a pre-opening press conference on Monday the 27th to speak about their enthusiasm for the tournament, which began the next day.

Kutani Ru (Oji) vows to pitch well following his MVP win this summer

Prince won the Intercity baseball Tournament this year and earned the right to participate in this tournament. The player who contributed to the victory and received the "Hashido Award" equivalent to the Most Valuable Player Award was the 6th pick from Tohoku Rakuten. pitcher Kutani is.

He joined Oji this year from the club team Yabatan Boosters, and in his first year he has become the core of pitcher staff. This summer he pitched as both a starter and reliever, achieving good results with three wins in four games and ERA of 1.96. "I'm proud to have won the Hashido Award, an award that every amateur player aspires to. I think I've proven that a player from a club team can come this far," he said proudly.

The venue for this tournament, Kyocera Dome Osaka, is also the home stadium of the Pacific League, and it is a place where he will likely pitch many times from next season onwards. Although it will be his first time on mound, he said, "It was also my first time pitching at Tokyo Dome during the Intercity Tournament, but I thought it was an easy mound to pitch on even during practice. I've heard from my teammates that Kyocera Dome Osaka is a good mound, so I hope I can perform as well as I did at Tokyo Dome (for the Intercity baseball)," as he fired up for his first and last appearance at the stadium before turning pro.

"The selling point is that we can create matches regardless of the condition, so I want to continue to do so in this tournament," said Kazuyuki Takemaru, who was nominated first by The Giants pitcher (Saginomiya Manufacturing). Like pitcher Kutani, this will be his first appearance in Kyocera Dome Osaka, but he started the first game on Tuesday, the first day of the tournament, on Tuesday, the 28th, and pitched 6.1 innings, 8 hit 5 strike out 1 runs.

Also on the first game on Tuesday 28th, Yokohama DeNA No. 4 pick Koshin Katayama pitcher (Honda). As he said at the press conference, "If I am going to pitch, I want to stick to putting a 0," he closer to runs five innings while carrying runner in scoring position three times on his back. The pitch style of Katayama pitcher is to weave breaking ball with fastball as the axis and build a mountain of struck out. I'm looking forward to the strike out show in my next appearance.

pitcher Katayama and Yokohama DeNA No. 5 pick Shuto Naruse (NTT West Japan), who will be his teammate from next season, said, "I want to show a wide defense range that makes use of my shoulders and a strong hitting in these situations baseball. I can somehow repay NTT West Japan with the results," he said and played with gratitude.

He continued, "I've played against pitcher Masui several times, but I haven't hit it yet, so if I ever have to face him, I definitely want to hit him next time," he said, looking forward to facing Shota Masui (Toyota Motor Corporation), who was the 4th pick of Tokyo Yakult pitcher who won the Most Distinguished Player (MVP) the previous year.

Then, pitcher Masui responded, "I just had his name mentioned like this, and of course I know that he is a good hitter, so I hope I can play against Naruse closer. In addition, while the team won consecutive championships, he vowed to perform as well as the previous year, when he won the MVP as an individual.

What will the three players selected by Pacific League teams play in their first game of the tournament?

picked seventh by Chiba Lotte Marines Taisei Tanaka pitcher will take on JR West in the second match on Tuesday, November 4 (14:00), the fourth day of the tournament. This year, after shifting his focus from pitching and hitting to pitcher, pitcher Tanaka set his fastest speed of 157 km/h. Team scouts also consider fastball to be their best weapon and a potential closer. Can we show a glimpse of that?

In the third match of the same day (18:00 start), he was picked sixth by Saitama Seibu. KAWADA Yushin Shikoku Bank, to which the company belongs, will work with Toyota Motor Corp. Kawada, with his quick feet and utility ability to defend the inner outfield, won his first professional debut in 54 years with Shikoku Bank. We look forward to seeing him play both offensively and defensively.

On the fifth day of the tournament, pitcher Kutani and Oji, who are aiming to win two major tournaments in the same year, played the second match (14:00). They face Nippon Steel Yamaguchi. If Oji plays in win and NTT EAST wins the first game on the 4th (Tue), Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Kazunari Ishii's younger brother will be picked sixth by Tokyo Yakult. Ishii Takumi A showdown with.

For them, it will be their last tournament before they become professionals in baseball. Attention should be paid to his all-out efforts to win the championship.

In addition, various events are planned to commemorate the 50 th event. In particular, baseball Pro fans should pay attention to the “Legend First Pitch Ceremony. ”. OB and current players who played in baseball before Pro baseball will throw out the ceremonial first pitch at the last game of each day. For information on the players who will pitch, please refer to the news section of the Japan baseball Federation website (https://www.jaba.or.jp/news/).

Overview of the 50th Japan Amateur baseball Championship

Dates: October 28th (Tue) to 30th (Thu), November 4th (Tue) to 12th (Wed) - 12 days in total
Stadium: Kyocera Dome Osaka
Participants: 32 teams
combination: https://www.jaba.or.jp/50baseball/?oytype=S
*Fan club members of Orix, Tohoku Rakuten, Chiba Lotte Marines, Chunichi, Yokohama DeNA, Hiroshima, Yakult, and Hanshin Tigers can enter special seats at a discounted rate only if they purchase tickets on the day.
*Present your fan club membership card at the same-day ticket sales counter at Kyocera Dome Osaka.

Interview and text by Yuna Takahashi