Lotte's Ko Matsukawa entered his fourth professional season with a sense of urgency and determination, but this season he was limited to just six appearances in the first team.

In his rookie year in 2022, he played in 76 games, including being the starting line-up catcher on opening day, and never being sent down to the minor leagues. However, in subsequent years, his playing time decreased to 9 games and then 2 games.

Looking ahead to this season, he said, "It's my fourth year, so I need to produce results to stay in the first team. Anyway, I want to do what I need to do well and keep in mind the importance of winning," and he took on the challenge with a strong resolve. During his voluntary training, he said, "Of course, it's important to improve my overall level, but I also think that my batting will be extremely important," and "My right knee goes forward, which makes me take a detour, so I'm trying to be conscious of that." During the spring training camp in Ishigaki Island, he swung the bat almost every day after the team practice with Aito, and was always the last to leave the stadium.

Regarding the time he spends swinging the bat after the whole team practice, Matsukawa said, "It's not just about form, but I just try to swing the bat as much as possible so that I can get into my own style," and swung the bat with single-minded concentration in order to create his own style.

In the external matches that began on February 16th, he hit hit hit in a practice match against DeNA on the 20th, an exhibition match against The Giants on the 24th, and a match against Korea Lotte on the 28th, and played in nine exhibition matches, but was unable to make the opening day of the season with the first team.

Since the start of the season, in a game against Yakult second team on May 4th, with the score at 10-3 and one out and a runner on first in the ninth inning, he was down to two pitches against Hoshi Tomoya, but he judged the ball well and, with three balls and two strike, let go of the sixth pitch, a 143 km/h fork, drawing a Walk his first at-bat in the second inning against Nippon-Ham Fighters' second team on July 8th, with the score at 0-3 and two outs and runners on first and third, he hit the first fastball thrown by Yi-Lei Sun, to left field for a three-run home run, his first of the season.

In July, he showed results in his batting, which had been a weakness, with a monthly batting average of .333 (9 hit At Bat 27 at-bats), 1 Home Run, and 4 RBI.

In August, he hit a 136 km cutter pitch, the fourth pitch that Toshihiro Sugiura threw from 1 ball 2 strike, in front of the right walk-off of the second batter bases loaded with one out in the 10th inning of a 1-1 game against Nippon-Ham Nigun on August 5. On August 22, he pitched sacrifice bunt the first batter, Hit by Pitch the second batter, sacrifice bunt the third batter, Walk the fourth batter and 0 At Bat 0 hit 1 4 Hit by Pitch 2 sacrifice bunt. On August 24, he played in the middle of the game against DeNA. On August 24, he played in a game against DeNA and had 2 hit at bats, all of which were to left field hit.

He explained the reason for the increase in pulled hit since July, saying, "I think my challenge is to hit straight pitches cleanly, so I've been working on not getting jammed. I've been doing things so that I can always hit straight pitches at my own sweet spot."

"There are only a few games left, but I want to do my best to do what I have to do and make sure I can contribute to the team. I think winning is very important, so first of all I want to do my best in the game in front of me and prepare so that when I play I can perform to the best of my ability." He was promoted for the first time this season on September 4th.

While Matsukawa was playing in the minor leagues, his junior, Ryusei Terachi, emerged as a "hitting catcher." "He's a rival of mine, so I'm not paying too much attention to him, and I'm just focusing on doing my best at what I need to do. I think it's a big deal for the team, and there's only one position, and there are only a few games left, so I hope to produce solid results."

He appeared in 6 games for the first team, starting in 2 of them, but was unable to starting line-up the team to win. He also went 0-At Bat hit 8 at the plate. Next season will be his 5th year as a professional, and players of the same age who graduated from university will be joining the pros. With manager Saburo taking over next season, he wants to seize the opportunity and make his presence felt as catcher.

Interview and text by Yuta Iwashita