Lotte's Ryusei Ogawa spoke about his batting style next season during his contract renewal on the 29th.
Starting with the game against Softbank on June 29th, midway through the season, he began using a "torpedo bat," which has a thicker core than a regular bat.
When asked why he started using a torpedo bat during the season, Ogawa explained, "It's like trying to get the point as close as possible, so I think it will hit my hand more often. So the first thing I do is bring the center of the bat there. Having the head in my hand increases the controllability, so I think it's about using the bat well and doing my best. In that sense, the torpedo bat suits me, so I use it."
Even so, towards the end of the season, he sometimes tried hitting with a regular bat instead of a torpedo bat, saying, "When I hit the ball first with the torpedo, it felt a little weak, so I tried a regular bat with the center of gravity closer to the grip.I'm hoping to find a bat that suits my batting style as much as possible, so I'm just experimenting.I've had good results with the torpedo, so I'm trying out different things."
During fall practice, he spent many days hitting with a dark brown bat that was not a torpedo bat, saying, "I made a new type of bat in September, and I thought this would be a good opportunity to try it out during fall practice and camp, so I'm using that bat a little more."
He had said that fall practice would be a good opportunity to try out a bat other than a torpedo, so after the Miyakonojo fall camp, I wonder if he has decided which one he will use next season.
"It felt good during fall practice, so I tried it out in the off-season, spring training, and practice games, and I also used the torpedo. I have two and I'm trying them both out, so I hope to find the one that's better for the opening game. I'm not picking one over the other. I think I'll use both."
He indicated that he plans to try out both bats during next year's spring training camp. It will be interesting to see which bat feels the most comfortable.
Interview and text by Yuta Iwashita
