Rakuten 's first-round draft pick, Rui Muneyama infielder (22), will show his appreciation in a performance in the hometown of the late Senichi Hoshino, his senior at his alma mater, Meiji University, and who also served as the manager of Rakuten.
On the 28th, he worked up a sweat at his home base, Rakuten Mobile, in preparation for the match against Hiroshima on the 1st, which will be held in Kurashiki, the fighting general's hometown. "He is like a senior to me. I am who I am today because of him," he said, and said enthusiastically, "I want to play to the best of my ability while feeling grateful to him." As it is close to his hometown of Hiroshima, he said, "I heard that some acquaintances will be coming, so I want to play hard as usual," and it looks like this will be a match where he can show his benefactor the results of his training camp.
He played at shortstop in all seven games during the training camp. Manager Miki also hinted at using him solely at short stop, saying, "Right now, I think he's more likely to play shortstop." Muneta calmly analyzed, "Of course, I still haven't played many positions, so I'm not sure if I've really secured a regular position through skill." He vowed to continue growing, saying, "My feeling that I need to improve from now on remains unchanged." (Akimoto Moeka)
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