Lotte's Ryusei Miyazaki has vowed to hit a fast fastball for his second year next season.

"Compared to last year, the quality of fastball has improved, and the speed of my pitches has increased, so I'm currently in the process of trying out different batting styles to suit me," he said, and "I've been fouling off and swinging when count is low, so I want to prepare properly so that I can hit the ball back with one pitch." In interviews this year, he has often spoken about how to deal with "fast fastball."

After his first season as a professional, has he been able to approach the fast fastball?

"There are some farm team pitcher pitcher can throw over 150 km/h, but there was a difference between the first and second teams even though the speed was the same 150 km/h, so I felt that rather than just hitting a fast ball, you need the skill to catch a high-quality fast fastball in one shot."

He named Nippon-Ham 's Yanagawa as pitcher he felt had a high-quality fastball when he was actually at bat. "It was my first time facing him, and I was swinging as if I was hitting the ball, but on video it looked like I was swinging in a different spot, so I thought that was the most amazing thing I've ever experienced," he said, looking back on the match.

With that in mind, he said, "I was able to experience the best straight pitch, so I would like to practice while imagining hitting a straight pitch," and plans to continue working hard on his batting practice so that he can hit fast fastball.

Interview and text by Yuta Iwashita