Lotte's Yuki Karakawa continues to demonstrate stable pitch in the farm team.

Karakawa pitched in an exhibition game against Softbank on March 9th, throwing 46 pitches over three innings, allowing three hits, hit strike out three, and allowing runs pitch, but this was his only appearance in the exhibition game and he is currently spending his time with the farm team.

On March 18th, he started in the farm team against Oisix, pitching 3 1/3 innings and giving up one runs. On this day, he said, "As I'm entering actual games, I think that this is the only way to get a feel for it, so I'm trying to pitch aggressively," and threw many cutter and fastball balls to left-handed hitter and right-handed hitter on the inside. With the score at 0-1 in the third inning with one out and a runner on first, his seventh pitch, a 143 km cutter on the inside, was a good one, striking out right-handed hitter struck out with one ball and two strike. "The line was a little off, but I feel like I was able to pitch with a good balance," he reflected.

He also threw both fast and slow curveballs that day. When asked about his intentions, he explained, "I think it feels different when I'm trying to get count and when I want to control the ball low, but to me they're basically the same. I do vary the speed a little."

In the following game against Rakuten 2nd Division on March 27th, he pitched six innings and gave up only one runs, but on that day he threw a lot of slider, which he has often said he was "practicing" in interviews since last year. Perhaps it's because he has become more confident in throwing slider.

"I wouldn't say I've become more confident, but I was able to hit some long balls in the game against Rakuten and the batters were swinging at me with ease, so I feel like I've started using more slider to change things up a bit."

He said that slider feels better than it did last year, saying, "I think it feels good. I've been able to throw it well in bullpen, too." What is interesting is that, while he said in an interview during his voluntary training in January that he wanted to throw more sideways slider this season, when watching the exhibition games and regular season of the minor league, he is also throwing vertical slider, which is of concern.

"I don't think about whether it's vertical or horizontal, and I just think that not just any slider will do, so I throw it with that in mind."

I wonder if it falls vertically if you change the swing of your arms.

"I guess it's a matter of awareness. If I try to throw low, it ends up being a bit vertical, so that's how it feels."

Also, what caught my attention in Rakuten minor league game was that the trajectory of change-up seemed to have changed. When I asked him about it, he told me, "It hasn't changed. I don't pay that much attention to the trajectory." Concerning change-up he said, "I think it's fine as long as I can get strike, so it's not bad. I'd like to improve the accuracy a bit."

On April 5th, he pitched five innings against the DeNA minor league team, giving up four hit and no runs, and played a solid game. When asked about his current condition, Karakawa said, "I wonder," and then added, "It's normal." "Normal is hard. I feel like I can pitch in a minor league game."

Currently, Lotte's first-team starting lineup is strong, and the first-team will not have six consecutive games in April. I will continue to produce results in the farm team so that I can be called up to the first team at any time.

Interview and text by Yuta Iwashita