Orix Buffaloes pitcher Ren Mukunoki attended contract negotiations at the team's facilities in Maishima, Osaka on the 23rd and signed a contract for 14 million yen, a 2 million yen increase (estimated amount). He revealed, "They evaluated my performance in the latter half of games (as reliever) as being very good, even though it was only for six games."

The right-handed pitcher, the first overall pick in the 2021 draft, appeared in 12 games this season. He struggled as a starter, with no wins and two losses, but midway through the season he requested to be moved to relief pitching, and from September onwards he showed his suitability with four hold in six games. "I said I wanted to be reliever, and I felt that I had no choice but to produce results so that this wouldn't be my last year, and although it was only six games, I'm glad that I was able to produce results," he summarized.

After the season, he participated in the Puerto Rico Winter League (WL) with Higashimatsu and trained as a warrior for more than a month. In 15 games, he showed a stable pitch with 1 win, 1 loss, 4 hold, 3 saves, and a ERA of 1.00. The one that got a certain response was the new ball change-up that he learned from his teammates. "inning I had a lot of jumps and consecutive throws, and I knew that I could do my body. It was really fun for me to throw in a winning situation, and on top of that, I was motivated to close it with a struck out, so the result gave me a lot of confidence."

His goal for next season is to pitch in 50 games. "It's been like this since my time at university (Tohoku Fukushi University), but closing out a game suits me and it's a lot of fun. I want to aim to be the guardian angel," he declared.