"It's going well, and I have my own plans, so I think I'm following them."

Lotte's Hikaru Otani, who underwent reconstruction surgery on the medial collateral ligament of his right elbow on March 19, is working hard on his rehabilitation with the goal of returning to the team.

This season, he underwent surgery on his right elbow before the start of the season, and he said, "Watching the games made me feel itchy and I really wanted to pitch, so I just wanted to get better quickly." He did not pitch for either the first or second teams.

He has now recovered enough to be able to play catch, and revealed, "It's winter, so it depends on how much I can throw during the cold season, but if all goes well, I feel like I could be able to do it sooner."

"I'd like to return to matches around April, but everything is going extremely well so I think it will be around April, so I'm not rushing it too much. I'm hoping to be able to do it around April," he said, already imagining a return to action.

Looking ahead to next season, he said, "First of all, I want to pitch in the first team so that I can return. I think it's important not to push myself too hard so that the injury doesn't recur."