Lotte's Kyuto Ueda infielder went through contract renewal negotiations on the 29th and signed for an increase of 3.5 million yen to an annual salary of 20 million yen (amount estimated).
In his second year as a pro, he played in 66 games this season, batting .211 with 3 Home Run 20 RBI. On July 17th against Softbank (Kitakyushu Municipal Baseball Stadium), his first pro Home Run was cancelled due to rainout, but on August 2nd against Seibu (Belluna Dome), he hit his very first real pro home run, and had a year of growth. Looking back on this season, he said, "Especially in the second half of the season, I was able to grasp a lot of things myself," and continued, "I want to be able to continue that for a whole year next year. That's my challenge. I hope I can clear that next year and do a solid year in the first team."
Next season, he aims to establish himself as third baseman, saying, "I've been playing third base all through fall practice and fall camp. I want to play only at third base," and is aiming for an OPS (slugging percentage + on-base percentage) of 800 to 850. number 10 player, who finished this season with an OPS of .610, said emphatically, "What I'm focusing on are RBI, batting average in scoring position, and OPS. My goal is to see how much I can increase my OPS."
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・ [Lotte] Second-year Yuto Kimura signed for 20 million yen, about 3.3 times more than his previous amount. "I had to look three times."
・ [Lotte] Koshiro Wada signs for 20 million yen, a 5 million yen reduction. "My skills were not good enough," he says. After 0 stolen base this season, he has found his place again.
・ [Lotte] Shunsuke Nakamori signs for 26 million yen, an increase of 10 million yen. His back pain has completely healed. Next season, he plans to be in the rotation if he's a starter, and win the title if he's reliever.
・ [Yakult] Sawai Ren signs for 10 million yen, maintaining his current price. He becomes a disciple of Yoshida Masataka via Hara Juri. "His physique is similar to mine, so he's the one I want to be."
・ [Yakult] 2024 first-round draft pick Yuto Nakamura receives a 1 million yen increase in his first contract renewal. He only won one game in his first year, but next year he aims for 10 wins in 25 appearances.
