Samurai Japan's Misho Nishikawa (Lotte) worked up a sweat practicing batting practice, base running practice, and catching balls in left field in preparation for the "LUXAS Samurai Japan Series 2025 Japan vs. Korea" to be held at Tokyo Dome on the 14th, 15th, and 16th.

Nishikawa struggled in his first season as a pro, batting just .145 at the end of May and was demoted to the minor league team, but after being promoted back in June he recovered with a .311 batting average. He played in 108 games this season, finishing the season on an upward trend with a .281 batting average (sixth in the league) and three Home Run, 37 RBI, and a league-leading 27 doble.

During fall practice at Zozo Marine Stadium after the season ended, he often spoke about the angle of his hits. In an interview on October 18, he said, "I haven't been able to get the trajectory up recently," but in practice on October 19, he hit a ball that flew into the left field lagoon seats, and in practice on October 21, he hit a strong ball from center fielder to the right.

During practice on October 23rd, he hit a powerful ball to left-center field, and the ball that hit the left-center wall advertisement was very good. Regarding batting practice on October 23rd, Nishikawa said with a satisfied look on his face, "I think my batting was good today, so I'd like to do my best to continue doing well."

He was selected for Samurai Japan as an additional call-up on October 27th. After participating in Lotte's Miyakonojo autumn camp from October 29th, he joined Samurai Japan's Miyazaki training camp from November 6th. He had been practicing hard at Lotte's autumn camp, but even with Samurai Japan he is swinging the bat firmly, saying "I'm practicing hard here so as not to lose my swing volume, and in Miyazaki I was hitting indoors, so I want to continue doing that."

Regarding the practice at Tokyo Dome on November 14th, he said with a positive feeling, "Today during batting practice I was able to hit the ball hard towards center fielder, and the success rate of hitting the ball properly has gradually increased, so I would like to continue doing this."

This fall, he has been conscious of the angle of his batting, and he took the batting position against pitcher in the Red vs. White game at Lotte's fall training camp and in a practice game against Hiroshima for Samurai Japan.

"When I'm in a real game, I don't think about the angle of the ball at all, so in practice I'm always thinking about how to get the right angle."

Samurai Japan has players who represent each team. "I hear about batting in particular from a lot of different players, and although I can't say which ones, I try to apply what I hear from them to my usual way of thinking and absorb what suits me."

Looking ahead to the friendly matches against South Korea on the 15th and 16th, he said enthusiastically, "I'll play with all my might and do my best to get good results."

Interview and text by Yuta Iwashita