"In a nutshell, it was a disappointing season, and we can't do the same thing next year. We need to change the things that need to be changed."

Lotte's Koshiro Sakamoto pitched in eight games this season, finishing with a disappointing record of one win and two losses with ERA of 6.35.

Looking ahead to this season, Sakamoto has been training his stamina to compete for a year, saying, "I've been continuing to lift weights, and I thought that there was a need for explosive power in that.Flexibility is important, but if I only lift weights, my muscles will become heavy, so I've been thinking about how to avoid that."

Regarding the new things he has started working on this season, he revealed, "First of all, I'm trying to throw stronger balls and breaking ball, but it's difficult to do it with just slider, so I think I also need to throw a splitter to left-handed batters, and I'm continuing to work on being able to throw a shooter right to the chest of left-handed batters."

"I think the biggest appeal is closer left-handed batters, and within that, I have to throw strong balls, including fastball, because we are in a position to make that appeal, so I would like to show off the strength of fastball and my ability closer left-handed batters," he said enthusiastically, and he took to the practice games and exhibition games, but his unstable pitch was evident and he was not made into the opening day first team.

In the farm team, he threw powerful fastball to left-handed hitter. fastball on the outside corner of left-handed hitter were particularly good. "There were days when the difference between my good and bad days was huge, but basically, a strong pitch is my lifeline, so I was always striving for that."

On May 22, he was promoted to the first team, and on May 23, his first start of the season against Seibu, he said, "Every year I get very nervous on my first start, so I threw some good pitches there, and I think I gained confidence for the future pitch." All seven pitches fastball went closer in the first inning, with none runs.

In the Seibu game on May 24, which became a series of pitches, he closer only 9 pitches and runs in the first inning, and in the Nippon-Ham game on May 31, he took the mound after starting Yuji Nishino without a runner in the 6th inning of 3-1, and closer 0 2/3 innings with no runs hold of the season. In the The Giants game on June 5, he took the mound in the 10th inning of a 1-1 score and runs one scoreless inning, and after that, the team won walk-off and marked the first win of the season. He has been runs pitch in four consecutive games since his first appearance, but he runs in Chunichi games on June 6 and Chunichi on the 8th, and lose pitcher in two consecutive games. When he was deregistered from the first team on June 12, he was re-promoted on July 2, but after being re-promoted, he won 2 runs in the Orix game on July 4, which was his first mound after re-promotion. He was relegated to the farm on the 5th of the following day and was not promoted to the first team this season.

Although he only pitched in eight games this season, there were times when he was throwing a strong fastball He said, "My selling point is my straight line. I think I had good speed, but I didn't get the impression that I was getting many fouls fastball. I think I lacked a strong pitch this year, a pitch stronger than my speed, so I'll work on that for next season.

Regarding his sideways breaking ball, he reflected, "When I threw slider, my arm was often loose due to the way I used my body, and I wasn't getting any strikeouts even in the farm team. As for the cutter, I would like to increase the percentage of pitch I threw. This year, I didn't throw many cutter pitches, and I relied too much on the straight ball and slider."

"If I'm going to compete at a higher level, it's going to be tough if I only have two types of pitches. I think it would be completely different if I had a pitch in the middle speed range, so I'd like to work on that," he said.

What concerned him was that he had been throwing fewer pitch since the summer. "I wanted to improve the quality of slider fastball splitter, so I've been throwing mostly fastballs and slider, but I'd like to be able to throw splitter next season," he explained.

Next season, under new manager Saburo, he hopes to once again break into the ranks of the first-team relief pitchers. "I want to make sure I don't lose to the team's left-handed pitcher when it comes to fastballs. As I say every year, I think it's my job to closer left-handed batters, so I want to do that thoroughly. It won't be easy, so I have to produce results. Given my age, I don't think I'll have many chances, so I want to do my best to make the most of the one or two chances I get."

Interview and text by Yuta Iwashita