Lotte's Atsuya Hirohata threw powerful fastball in the Miyazaki Phoenix League, which was held after the regular season ended.
At the Phoenix League, Hirohata said, "As for my form, I wasn't going to rely on that, but I tried out things that I could do because I'm in Phoenix, and I talked with my coach about how that might be a good style, and tried out a lot of different things." He was throwing with a different pitch form than usual.
As for fastball, I was watching the video and got the impression that he was throwing a ball that felt more powerful than a speed gun. In particular, in the Hanshin Tigers game on October 21st, in the 8th inning with one out and second base with a score of 0-3, Hiroshi Toyoda was hit with a swing struck out from 3 balls and 2 strike to an outside angle of 147 km fastball.
Hirohata said, "Throughout Phoenix, I threw the fastball pitch with more than just speed," and explained, "My coach told me that if I couldn't throw the fastball pitch well, the breaking ball pitch wouldn't come alive, and if I couldn't throw the pitch well, the pitch wouldn't come alive. breaking ball I was told by my coach that if you can't throw well, won't come alive either, and if you throw only , you will get hit by pitches, so I was told to think of it as a good straight ball and throw it.
This season, he pitched in 36 games for the farm team, posting a good record of 5 wins, 2 losses, 2 ERA, and an ERA of 1.60, but in the first team he pitched in 8 games with a record of 0 wins, 1 loss, and ERA of 5.87.
"I think it's about staying injury-free for a whole year. If I'm given the chance, I want to be able to say for a whole year that when someone is injured, 'he's not injured, so he's in good condition.' I don't know how many games there will be, but the manager has changed and the team has been completely revamped, so I'd like to work hard from my own training to the camp so that I can fit in well." Next season is the year he will establish himself in the first team.
Interview and text by Yuta Iwashita
