Lotte's Shota Ueda made his presence felt in the final stages of the season, looking ahead to next season.

Ueda did not play in the first team last season, and reflected, "It was a disappointing season," but looking ahead to the new season, he was enthusiastic, saying, "I think the only thing I can do is improve my catch, all of my catching as a catcher, blocking, and everything else."

He started the Miyakonojo spring training camp, but joined the first team at the Okinawa Itoman training camp and played in three practice games, but did not play in the exhibition games, and started the season with the second team. In his first start of the season in the farm starting line-up on March 18th against Oisix, he got two hit, and then had four consecutive hit, bringing his batting average to .833. He was registered with the first team on April 23rd, and made his first appearance in two years against Orix on April 30th, but was removed from the first team roster on May 3rd. He was promoted for the second time on July 11th, but again only played in one game and was demoted to the second team on July 28th.

"I started playing for the first team midway through the season, but up until then I would look at catcher 's pitching and the batter's reactions before the games and think carefully in my head about what I would do next. It was the same in the farm team. I didn't have many opportunities to play in games even in the farm team, but I think it was a good thing that I was able to think carefully while sitting on the bench."

While his playing time was limited in the farm team, he did what he had to do when he did. On September 18th, he was promoted to the first team for the third time this season. On September 23rd, he started as the Seibu batter and catcher in the game against starting line-up, and led his battery partner in the farm team Yuki Karakawa, to three hit closer no runs in seven innings.

Koshiro Hiroike, who came on to pitch in the 8th inning with the score at 1-0, runs one scoreless inning, and in the 9th inning he led fellow draftee Rikuto Yokoyama to a scoreless runs, earning shutout game win in his first start starting line-up in two years.

"I was happy to be paired with Karakawa on the first team. To be honest, the reason we were able to shutout game was because Karakawa was in good form, so I think the best thing was that I was able to communicate well with him behind the scenes, come up with a strategy, and actually execute it ground. As for Yokoyama (who was drafted at the same time as me), he's a powerful pitcher, so I think he pitched well."

I wonder if being able to shutout game gave them confidence.

"I've always been with the farm team, so of course the level of hitter is different between the farm team and the first team, and to be honest I wasn't sure if my leads would work in the first team, so the fact that I was able to get good results there gave me confidence."

In his first at-bat in the game Rakuten on September 30th, with the score tied at 0-0 in the third inning and a runner on first base, he said, "I was happy. I just wanted to swing, and I swung, and I was happy that I got a good result." He hit his first professional hit, a 138 km/ fastball on the seventh pitch thrown by Takayuki Kishi with the score at 2 balls and 2 strike, which dropped in front of center fielder.

He showed off his offensive and defensive skills in the final stages of the season for next season. Toshiya Sato Although there are many rivals catcher, Ryusei Terachi, and Tatsuhiro Tamura, we hope to fully demonstrate the weapons that only Ueda possesses.

Interview and text by Yuta Iwashita