catcher Hikaru Ito (36), who exercised his overseas free agent (FA) rights and transferred from DeNA to Rakuten Eagles, held a press conference at Rakuten Eagles Mobile on the 10th. number was decided to be "27," which was worn by outfielder Takero Okajima (36), who is in the same grade as him and retired at the end of this season.

Regarding number, Hikaru Ito said, "Speaking of The Eagles 's number 27, it's Takero Okajima," and while he had respect for Okajima, who had been wearing it for seven years, he said, "It's also the number I admire, and I wonder if it's okay to wear it, so I want to wear it." In catcher, he was passionate about the "ace number" worn by The Giants Mori, Yakult Furuta, and Tani Shigeru in the Chunichi era, so he contacted Okajima. "I'm cheering for you, and I'm grateful," he said. Carrying the number 27 with various thoughts on his back will help the team.