Seibu Lions Takayoshi Yamamura infielder (23) signed a contract renewal at the team's office in Tokorozawa, Saitama, on March 3, increasing his salary by 8 million yen to 23 million yen. (Amount is estimated).

This season, his fifth as a professional, he played in a career-high 71 games, hitting four Home Run and batting .246, but he is not satisfied, saying, "I started playing in first-division games after the interleague games, so I really wanted to play for a whole year.I hope I can do better next year."

During fall practice, Yamamura has been trying new things to broaden his range of activities, such as taking up left defense, but he insists that he "wants to compete at third base." Looking ahead to next season, he said enthusiastically, "I want to hit double-digit Home Run and play in the starting starting line-up for the whole year."