"The content and results were far from what we were looking for. This was my first year, so I was in an unfamiliar environment and playing at home in an outdoor stadium for a year was different. Now that I've experienced it all, I won't be able to make excuses next year. I think we'll be scrutinized even more closely as a team as we try to make a comeback, so I just want to respond with good results."

In his first year with the team this season, Lotte's Shuta Ishikawa pitched 103 1/3 innings in 19 games, recording 4 wins and 7 losses ERA of 4.62.

On December 11 last year, he decided to join baseball, saying, "I have decided to start the next stage of my life at Chiba Lotte Marines." At a press conference on December 19, he expressed his determination, saying, "I will do my best to live up to the expectations of the company.

This was his first spring training camp in Ishigaki Island since the transfer. "I feel like I'm working in a really comfortable environment, and I think I'm doing what I want to do." On February 2nd, he took to bullpen for the first time since the transfer, throwing 34 pitches against Toshiya Sato. On February 14th, he pitched in his first live BP since the transfer, throwing 20 pitches and closer the number of hit hits to three, and broke the bat of Daito Yamamoto with an inside fastball.

He made his first appearance in a real game on February 26th at the 2025 Miyazaki Baseball Games against Orix Buffaloes, and then on March 4th, in an exhibition game against DeNA, he pitched three innings but hardly threw cutter. When asked if this was related to his preparations for the opening of the season, he said, "The percentage can change during a game, so it's not like I'm trying to throw more of them. However, I think that the reason I might throw more cutter is if my other pitches aren't performing well, but my feeling is that I want to throw all my pitches evenly."

In his final appearance of the exhibition season on March 18th closer Rakuten, he pitched five runs inning and threw a full range of pitches, including fastball, curveballs, cutter, fork, and change-up.

In the open game against Rakuten Eagles on the same day, he said, "It was a part that wasn't very much like me, so I was rather good at throwing to the right batter's in-course, but in the Rakuten Eagles game on the 18th, the accuracy of the left in-course was good, so I chose to go straight left-handed hitter fastball I threw it in.

In a game against Rakuten Eagles 's minor league team on March 25, he pitched five innings, and after pitching a total of 19 inning in five games across both the major and minor league teams, he was ready to play in a major league regular season.

"I think it's important to always be in a position where I can take a fighting pose without getting injured, and if I get injured I won't be able to show my fighting spirit, so no matter where I am, I want to be able to show that I'm fighting."

Game Orix Buffaloes on April 3rd, which was his first appearance after transferring. It was his first appearance after transferring to his home base, Zozo Marine Stadium, but he said, "I slipped and the ball came out, and as a result, it became a dangerous pitch, and I feel sorry for Wakatsuki," and in the second inning of 0-0, with one out and one out, the first pitch of Kenya Wakatsuki hit the brim of his hat and sent off the dangerous ball. He threw 1/3 innings and gave up mound with 3 hits hit and runs no hits.

In the game against his former home Softbank Hawks on April 11, which was his second appearance after the transfer, he threw 67 pitches in 5 innings, allowing 3 hits hit, 3 strike out, and 2 runs. The curve was very good, such as a 125 km curve with an outside angle that finished Akira Kawase with a grounder to first base without a 0-0 first runner, and a 128 km curve on the 8th pitch that finished Yuki Yanagita with a 3-ball, 2-strike swing struck out without a 0-0 first two outs runner.

"Basically, the curveball is my lifeline, or rather, I think it's my strong point. I think batters don't like balls that have a lot of movement and are slow or fast, so I think that's a good thing, or rather, you have to pitch it with the premise that it's good, and I think it needs to be your number one weapon at all times. It's difficult to pitch a curveball with just a straight pitch, so it's important to vary it up from there, so I think that's a good thing, and it was probably big that I was able to get results with it."

In the game against Softbank Hawks, he said, "No matter what the content is, you can learn things by talking, and if you don't talk, your intentions won't be conveyed, and you won't know what the other side is thinking. I want to talk as much as possible, or rather, I have to talk. I think that's part of the job, so that's how I approach talking." After inning ended and he returned to the dugout, he communicated closely with catcher, including Toshiya Sato.

In the game Seibu Lions on April 22nd, he needed 27 pitches in the first inning, but he pitched five innings, hit only two hits and one runs, keeping the game close. "At first, I was attacking with my good pitches, or rather, the pitches I'm confident in, and overall there were some pitches that I wasn't really thinking about the opposing batters, so I thought I'd try to throw more fork. My cutter wasn't working well, so it was really tough, but I was thinking that if I could improve that, I'd be even better." In the first round of batting order, he mainly threw fastball and curves, and from the second round onwards, he threw a variety of breaking ball.

In terms of "pitches that opposing hitters are not aware of," with one out in the 0-1 2nd inning without runner Yuto Koga, Koga missed struck out a 132 km fork in-course pitch from 1 ball 2 strike and hitter had a reaction that he did not expect. He recalled, "It was a pitch I wasn't expecting either, so the result was okay, so it was one pitch I reflected on."

Despite limiting runs to just one run over five innings, a statement sent by the team's public relations department after his appearance said, "Overall, my pitching had a poor tempo." I didn't feel that the tempo was particularly bad while watching, so I wonder what aspects of his pitching did they perceive as lacking tempo?

"I think there were a lot of unnecessary balls that weren't the ball I was imagining, but I think that's where my tempo was off."

In April, he pitched 11 1/3 innings across three games, posting a 2.38 ERA and 0-0 record. Although he was able to keep the opponents in check, he was not blessed with a win. closer, he commented, "I've had plenty of experience with that, so it's not something that puts me in a negative mindset, so I'm not worried about it at all," and headed into the battle in May.

In May, he suffered his first loss since joining the team in a game against Softbank Hawks on the 3rd, giving up 5 runs in 5 2/3 innings. He then pitched 17 2/3 innings in 3 games, with a record of 0 wins and 2 losses and ERA of 5.09.

Regarding the game The Giants held at his home stadium, Zozo Marine Stadium, on June 4th, he said, "I wanted to win as soon as possible, and whether it's at home or away, the sooner the better. In the end, I was able to win at home, and it was refreshing to have the hero interview at home, so I think that was good." He threw 93 pitches over seven innings, closer the runs scoreless, and was pleased with his first win since the transfer.

In the game against DeNA on June 20th, he teamed up with Ryusei Terachi for the first time regular season, closer the DeNA batting line hitless through the fourth inning, allowing only one runs in six innings for his second win. In the game against Softbank Hawks on June 28th, he pitched six scoreless innings for his third win, completing a three-game winning streak in June without runs loss, pitching 23 innings in four games with a 1.96 ERA, demonstrating his solid pitch.

In his first appearance of July, on the 9th against Nippon-Ham, he surprisingly gave up 8 runs in 5 innings and was the lose pitcher. However, on the 21st against Orix Buffaloes, closer the opposing team hit until the 6th inning with two outs and no runner on base, throwing 103 pitches over 7 innings, allowing 1 hit, 6 strike out, 1 BB, and no runs, earning his 4th win. His battery partner was not Ryusei Terachi, but the experienced Tatsuhiro Tamura. After the game, manager Masahito Yoshii explained his intentions for using Tamura, saying, "First of all, Teraji is going to be playing in the All-Star Game, so we wanted to give him a rest. Also, we thought that his combination with Ishikawa and his pitching would be key, so we decided to use the experienced Tamura."

Ishikawa and Tamura, who formed a battery for the first time in regular season after the transfer, had excellent communication and lined up zeros on the scoreboard. In the early part of the game, Ishikawa mainly pitch fastball and curved pitches, but in the 5th inning, 8 out of 9 pitches were breaking ball, so pitch were mainly breaking ball.

Ishikawa expressed his gratitude to Tamura, saying, "Personally, I had said I wanted to throw a straight pitch, but he said, 'Let's go this way,' and I told him to leave it to me and make sure he could throw well. He led me well."

His first appearance after the All-Star break was against Rakuten Eagles on July 30th, where he gave up 7 runs in 4 1/3 innings, followed by another disappointing performance against Softbank Hawks on August 6th, where he gave up 8 runs in 5 innings.

Still, in the Orix Buffaloes game on August 26th, there was no win or loss, but he threw 96 pitches in 6 innings, allowing hit 9, 3 strike out, 1 BB, and 1 runs. He threw 17 pitches in the fourth inning, of which only three pitches were fastball. I wonder if the reason why there were so many inning breaking ball was because I felt that the Orix Buffaloes batting line was aiming for fastball.

"It's not like that, it's not that I've been aiming for it, but rather that if I throw it in a balanced manner, the batter doesn't like it. I think the hardest thing for batters is to use more and more balls from the first inning and closer them. As far as the inning over there is a connection, Tamura will distribute the ball there, and if I can get a count on any ball, I am confident that I can go with any count. There is a thing that I am throwing in that situation."

Among them, in the 4th inning of 3-1, with one out and one out, and Taishi Hirooka on second base, he finished off with a swing struck out from 2 balls and 2 strike, and the curve with an outside angle of 125 km was good.

"That curveball was good. It felt like it was heading towards the batter for a moment, and the throwing feel was good, but there was a fine line between the short stop that Tonmiya hit for home run and the next curveball I threw to Kurebayashi that grounded out to short. One small difference can mean the difference between home run or an infield grounder, so I'd like to improve my accuracy in that area a little more."

In his first appearance in September, against Nippon-Ham on September 2, he took his 6th loss in 5 innings and 8 runs. In the games against Orix Buffaloes on September 9 and Orix Buffaloes on September 17, he achieved QS (within 3 earned runs in 6 innings), but could not get a white star. In his final appearance of the season against Seibu Lions on September 29, he also pitched 5 1/3 innings and compiled 2 runs, but suffered his 7th loss.

"With the new system in place, I think Saburo-san has his own team policies in mind, so it's not really a matter of choosing to participate in the autumn training; there are fewer reasons not to. I'm working hard on my running and tackling various challenges. I feel like the challenge is to review my weaknesses one by one and work on them," he said, referring to his participation in the autumn training at Zozo Marine Stadium, which began on October 8th after the end of the regular season.

"I've only pitched about 100 inning this season, so I don't think I need to rest my body. I can rest when baseball career is over, and since this is my first year with The Marines, I don't see any reason not to do it or not to come to the autumn practice. It's just a matter of whether I'm in this environment or whether I do it myself, so I don't think anything will change. With the manager having changed, we can communicate better, so in that sense it's only a positive thing," he said, showing his positive attitude towards training.

During fall practice, he said, "My challenge is to review each and every weak point and work on them," but I wonder how he is doing in that regard now.

"I got injured during the fall camp, so for now I'm working on my physique with a flat image. I thought about my weak points in the fall, and as I tried various things, I didn't feel like they matched up with my throwing during fall practice, and my lower body didn't feel like it was connected to my throwing that much. From my experience, I don't feel like weight training directly connects to performance, so I'm choosing the important parts of weight training and selecting those that don't impair my sense of touch. As for my progress, I do it when I feel it's necessary. I'm doing it as I choose."

Looking ahead to his second season next year, he said, "In order to win the league championship, I personally need to achieve double-digit wins," aiming for a double-digit win total. He will be looking to show his true potential in his second year with the team, now that he's more accustomed to it.

Interview and text by Yuta Iwashita