"A lot of things happened and I was able to experience a lot of different things. I don't think it's something you can experience in your first year, so I was in a bad mood and things weren't going well at first, but now I think it was good that I was able to experience that first thing."
Lotte's Misho Nishikawa, who won the Rookie of the Year award, had a "turbulent" year.
He was selected by Lotte and Orix Buffaloes at the professional baseball draft meeting held last October. After joining Lotte, Nishikawa was given the number "6", which has been carried by the right hitter strong The Marines players such as Hiromitsu Ochiai, Kiyoshi Hatsushiba, and Shihito Iguchi. Nishikawa, who put on the uniform of The Marines with high expectations, appeared in 16 games from February 16, and with a batting average of .403 (62 At Bat 25 hit), 1 Home Run and 9 RBI, he grabbed a ticket to the first team for the opening day of the season.
On March 28th, in the opening game against Softbank, he started as starting line-up hitter and left fielder, and in his third at-bat in the sixth inning with the score at 1-1 and runners on first and third, he said, "When the ball came to the inside, I was thinking of spinning it, so I was able to hit it the way I imagined. I'm glad I got my first hit at a good moment. I'd like to give the ball to my parents." He hit a timely hit to left field off the third pitch thrown by Kohei Arihara with one ball and one strike. This was his first professional hit and first professional RBI, and the hit that led his team to win.
Nishikawa hit a single to center fielder field in his third at-bat against Orix Buffaloes on April 2nd, recording his first regular season hit at Zozo Marine Stadium. The following day, in the game against Orix Buffaloes, with the score 0-2 in the 6th inning with one out and a runner on first, hit a curveball, the fourth pitch thrown by Espinoza with a 1-ball, 2-strike, for a single to shortstop, extending his consecutive games hit from the start of the season to 5, tying the club record for most games with a hit by a rookie. However, after this hit, he went hit in 5 games and 19 at-bats, and was removed from the active roster on April 12th, saying, "I clearly saw my weaknesses in the first team, and I'm working hard to correct what went wrong so that I can immediately contribute when I return."
The season began with good results in practice games and exhibition matches in February, but perhaps there was a change in the opposing pitcher' approach.
"I thought there were a lot of inside shots, and that's where I got stuck, which is why I didn't do well. My swing was broken down as the games went on. Now I'm preparing myself so that I can hit the ball whenever the ball comes up."
However, watching the practice games and exhibition games, in the exhibition game against The Giants on March 22nd, just before the season opener, with the score 0-3 in the 5th inning, two outs, runners on first and third, Taiga Funasako hit a 143 km/h inside strike on the 5th pitch of his third at-bat, a two-run doble over center fielder field, showing he was able to handle inside pitches. I wonder if he felt that the inside pitching after the season started was different from what he felt during the exhibition games?
"The quality of my straights is different, but I used to be able to handle them on the inside, but now that the season has started I can't do that, so I'm working on that now."
After recording five hit in a game against Yakult Swallows' minor league team on April 18, he went on to record multiple hit four consecutive games from another Yakult Swallows minor league game on April 20 to another against the DeNA BayStars' minor league team on April 25. In a game Oisix on April 24, he hit his first official home run, albeit in the minor leagues, saying, "I had heard that they had a quick pitch, so I went to the plate keeping that in mind and just focusing on hitting Home Run at my own regular season."
He hit .423 (52-22) on the farm and was promoted again on April 29. On the same day against Orix, he batted 0-0 in the second inning from Hiroya Miyagi, the leading pitcher in baseball, with one out in the second inning, and carried fork the third pitch from 2 strike in front of center fielder, and the third pitch from 1 strike in the seventh inning, 0-1, with one out runner, change-up in front of hit and 2 hit in left field.
After hitting hit in his fourth at-bat against Softbank Hawks on May 3, he went 17 consecutive at-bats without hit, but on May 18 against Nippon-Ham Fighters, he came in as a pinch hitter for Atsuki Tomosugi in the 12th inning with the score at 1-1 and runners on first and second with one out. "Honestly, I was reluctant to swing at a strange ball before going up to bat and get out, but when I calmed down, I remembered my batting style and since I've always swung at the first pitch, I decided to stick to it and went for it from the first pitch," he said, swinging at the first cutter thrown by Takumi Yamamoto, and the ball went for a timely doble to right-center field. His hit in a while was walk-off hit that led the team to win.
He was removed from the first-team roster again on May 27 due to poor health, but he produced results with his bat, batting .419 (13 out of 31), and was recalled on June 13. In the three-game series against DeNA starting on June 20, he had multiple hit in all three games, and in the game on the 22nd, he had a spectacular performance with four hit, including his first professional multi-hit game. In June, he had a batting average of .441 (15 out of 34), and was clutch in scoring situations, with an astonishing batting average of .571 with runners in scoring position.
His defense wasn't the only thing that shone. In the game against DeNA on June 22nd, with the score 5-0 in the first inning with no outs and runners on first and second, Keita Sano hit a ball to left-center field, and when center fielder Fujiwara fumbled it, he immediately covered the base and made a great play to prevent the runner first, Matsuo, from scoring.
Since the start of July, hit in four consecutive games, from the game against Rakuten on the 2nd to the game against Orix on the 6th, and in the game against Seibu on the 13th, he achieved his second multi-hit game since turning pro, saying, "I feel like my own condition is improving even during batting practice, so I would like to work hard each day so that I can hit more and more and improve my condition."
"We struggled at first, but we're improving now and the first half of the season gave us both good and bad experiences, so we'd like to do our best to improve in the second half."
◆ Established himself as a regular in the second half of the season
In the second half of the season, on July 30 against Rakuten Eagles spot for the first time since turning pro. In his second at-bat in the 4th batting order with one out and no runner on base, with the score 0-3, he hit his first professional Home Run, a 131 km/h pitch thrown by Takayuki Kishi on a 3-ball, 2-strike, which landed in the left field lagoon stands.
"I'm relieved that I got one hit, but I just want that hit to extra inning and eventually become home run, so I'm not going to get too carried away and I'm just going to keep going."
He hit his first professional Home Run, and his batting average, which had temporarily dropped to the .100s, rose to .289 (67 At Bat 232 hit) after the game against Orix Buffaloes on August 10th. Including his ability to handle inside pitches, it seemed as though he had overcome one of the "professional barriers."
Nishikawa thought for a moment and said, "Hmm," before analyzing himself, "I think I'm currently able to hit the balls I should be hitting, so there are times when I make a few mistakes, but when I make a mistake, I think the most important thing is how I reflect on my next turn at bat.I try to think about that carefully even during the game."
When it comes to a game, he never stops preparing and reflecting, saying, "I want to hit a home run in every game, and I write down the theme for the day in a notebook every day. I always reflect on whether I was able to achieve it that day and why I wasn't, and make corrections, so I think that's really leading to good results."
Hitting coach Kenta Kurihara commented, "At the start of the season, he was swinging at some balls outside the strike zone and wasn't able to swing in his own style, but after being sent down to the minor leagues once, he has been diligently working on what he has been doing there. He has become able to hit to right breaking ball. I think the biggest thing is that he has become able to hit to right field even when he is jammed."
Nishikawa's momentum continued to accelerate. hit five consecutive games from the game against Softbank Hawks on August 16th to the game against Rakuten Eagles on August 21st. After the game against Rakuten Eagles on August 20th, his batting average rose to .297.
Against Rakuten Eagles on August 20, he was 2 hit but showed his legs as well: in the second at bat with two outs in the 0-2 5th inning, he hit two seam fastball the first pitch center fielder 136 km hit to right thrown by Tatsuki Koja, and without slowing down, he hit a timely doble double that stole second base. Against Softbank Hawks on August 31, with one out in the 1-1 3rd inning, he hit Kyuto Ueda to left center hit and stole first base runner. Nishikawa made a good base running advance to third base and was brought home alive by a wild pitch while Ryusei Terachi at bat. He was not the MVP for the month of August, but he had a .344 batting average and 5 RBI runs for the month.
Even in September, he recorded his 31st multi-hit game of the season, including his second solo home hit, in the game against Orix Buffaloes on the 9th, and his third Home Run, his second in two consecutive games, in the game against Softbank Hawks on the 11th.
A great one was against Rakuten Eagles on September 13 base running. With two outs in the fourth inning of a 6-2 game Hiromi Oka, first baseman runner Nishikawa, who was starting on 3 balls and 2 strike, saw Rakuten Eagles third baseman Franco go to first throw, and without slowing down, he made a good base running fall at third base.
"I think that's definitely one of the things that can determine whether the team wins or loses, and sometimes the outcome can be decided by a single base running. I'm always trying to get ahead, so I think that base running (in the game Rakuten Eagles on September 13th) was good for me."
In the game Rakuten Eagles on September 14th, he showed his aggressive hitting style, but he forced Rakuten Eagles pitcher to throw 31 pitches in 5 at-bats. In the game Orix Buffaloes on September 16th, stolen base his first professional base, and in the game against Nippon-Ham on September 20th, he hit a timely doble to right-center field off Kota Tatsu, who was also competing for Rookie of the Year. In the game against Nippon-Ham on September 28th, he was hit in his first two at-bats, but he got hit in his third and fourth at-bats to achieve a multi-hit.
"I've been feeling good for a while now, and it's easier for me and my mental health when those days continue to be good, so I'd like to keep going."
In his second at-bat of the final regular season game against Softbank Hawks on October 5th, he reached the required number of plate appearances for the season. In his first year as a professional, he played in 108 games, batting .281 with 3 Home Run, 37 RBI, and a league-leading 27 doble.
"At first, I struggled to get results, but after learning from many people and thinking about it myself through trial and error, I think I was able to achieve results in my own way, so I would like to continue working hard to improve my results from next year onwards."
He overcame each challenge one by one, and towards the end of the season, he was able to draw Walk by showing persistence. "I'm also particular about my on-base percentage, so I felt the importance of being able to draw even one Walk when I'm not in good form as the season went on. I want to use that experience to come back even stronger this winter offseason."
Although he didn't win a Golden Glove Award for outfield defense, he was the league leader in assists among outfielder. "defense is one of the things I'm particular about. I was first in assists, and I think that makes a huge difference in terms of pitcher 's morale and helping the team, so I play every inning with that role in mind in every game."
Next season, his second as a professional, will be extremely important. "I think it's very important in terms of performance to improve and have a career-higher performance each year than the previous year, and I'm still not satisfied with myself, so there are always people better than me, and in that sense I want to raise my level even more and become a batter who can aim for a .300 batting average and double-digit Home Run runs next time." He will return to Marine Stadium next season even more improved.
Interview and text by Yuta Iwashita
