Lotte's Haruya Tanaka is working to improve his quick pitching for next season.

In his third year as a professional, Tanaka Haru secured a spot in the opening starting rotation this season, and with his powerful fastball and fork with a large drop, he pitched 76 1/3 innings in 13 games, recording a record of 3 wins and 5 losses, strike out, more than inning, and posting ERA of 2.48.

During the fall practice held at Zozo Marine Stadium, he said he would continue to hone his quick pitch, saying, "In fall practice, I'm going to focus on my quick pitch, so I want to place the most importance on the time, power, and control of my quick pitch. During the off-season, I took another look at my fastball, and I'm still not completely satisfied with it, so next year I want to increase my average pitch speed, and in addition to improving that, I also want to increase the speed of fork and my strikeout rate, so I think those are also areas I need to work on."

"I think my quick pitching improved during the fall camp. Next up is the season, when I'll be facing batters. That will be very important, but I think I've improved at least a little," he said, practicing his quick pitching during the Miyakonojo fall camp, and his quick pitching time also cleared the team's minimum standard.

During the off-season, he expressed his intention to improve his physique and technical abilities, saying, "Building up a physique is an important preparation for fighting throughout the year, so I think it would be good to get my body in shape and spend more time practicing my skills so I can improve them a little more."

Interview and text by Yuta Iwashita