"It doesn't feel good. Well, first of all I'm not pushing hard with my fastball, and because I can't push hard with my fastball, I don't get any strikeouts with breaking ball either."
Lotte's Atsuki Taneichi is not at all satisfied with pitch in the two games he has taken to the mound so far.
One of the reasons he is not satisfied is fastball. "My mechanics are not good, so although I was able closer last time, I was pitching on mound thinking that it was not my pitching at all." Until now, Taneichi has cited "opening his left shoulder too quickly" as the reason for his poor fastball, but he revealed that one of the reasons he is not currently able to throw fastball that he is satisfied with is that his left shoulder is opening too quickly.
Also, since the spring training camp in Ishigaki Island in February, it appears that he has been intentionally throwing a high fastball, but he said, "I want to pitch it. I'm practicing."
His greatest weapon is fork, which he threw in an exhibition game against The Giants on March 23rd, when the score was 1-0 and Kazuma Okamoto, the first batter in the second inning, swung and missed with his first pitch, a 136 km/ fork fork on the inside, and then with two balls and one strike, he swung and missed with his fourth pitch, a 138 km/h fork on the inside. In his first appearance this season against Softbank on March 30th, with the score at 1-4 and a runner on first in the fifth inning, he threw a 134 km/h forkball on the inside to Hotaka Yamakawa with one strike and no outs. He has been throwing good fork on the inside to right-handed hitter. He himself said, "I have a better feel for fork with the right hand."
Watching Taneichi this season, he struck out on the in-course of right-handed hitter on April 8, Seibu against Nevin in the top of the 7th inning, 7-1, on the 3rd pitch he threw from 1 ball 1 strike to Nevin, 136 km sinker series fork on the in-course, and on March 30, Softbank against Richard with two outs bases loaded in the 3rd inning, 0-4, on the 2nd pitch he threw from 1 strike to Richard, outside corner. strike The fork that fell from the zone into the ball zone appears to be a slider series, the sinker series to the in-course of right-handed hitter, and the fork series to the out-course of slider. When I checked with Taneichi, he said, "I'm not that conscious of it these days. It's just the trajectory, as long as I can drop it cleanly," he told us.
slider also appear to have more variety, with a vertical dropping slider, a sweeper-type slider, slider, and an Ariyoshi-san slider, but he says he doesn't seem to be throwing them with intention, saying, "It just curves on its own. It feels natural."
In the March 30 game against Softbank, he struck out Richard with no outs in the sixth inning of a 1-4 game with no runner outs in the sixth inning, and the 135-kilogram slider that struck out strike Richard with a struck out in the second inning of a 1-1 tie in the third inning of a 1-1 tie at 137 kph slider with a strikeout from 2 strike on one ball and struck out looked like a "sweeper." "It wasn't as curved as the sweeper at all, but it was a good trajectory," he said.
In a game Seibu on April 8th, with the score tied at 1-1 in the fourth inning, he got Manaya Nishikawa was leading off with two balls, to miss with a 132 km/h outside slider on the third pitch. Regarding the slider, he said, "Basically, I want to throw a gyro-spin slider."
What is concerning is that the number of struck out he has recorded in the two games so far is only eight, which is a little low. "I hope I can throw my fastball in a good shape. I think now is the time for me to focus on that," he analyzed.
He will start in the game against Nippon-Ham at 6:00 p.m. "I want to pitch long inning and win as usual." He will pitch for even one inning and lead his team to win.
Interview and text by Yuta Iwashita
