Lotte's Kota Futaki was trying out a pitching form with his elbow lowered, but has now returned to the unique pitch form he used last season.
In recent years, he has been experimenting with his pitch form, saying, "From 2011 to the beginning of 2012, I tried to shorten the time the ball was horizontal to make the ball stronger, and although the ball speed itself increased, the batters' reaction was not good. I thought that it was important to compete using my own unique form." Last year, Futaki threw with his unique pitch form, but during his voluntary training after last year's fall practice, he changed to a form with his elbow lowered, saying, "Ultimately, my goal wasn't to lower my elbow, but to try to get into a position where I could throw a strong ball, and I thought it would be good to lower my arm. After the fall (practice) ended in December and January, I tried out various things on my own."
In an interview at the Ishigakijima Spring Camp on February 2, he said, "I think I'm not quite there yet," fastball about his strength. After practice on February 15, he got advice from coach Yoshinori Tateyama at the indoor practice field, catch ball in a much lower elbow position.
After practice on February 15th, I asked Futaki if he was experimenting with angles to throw strong balls. He replied, "Yes, I'm working on it together with strong balls and thinking about how they look to the batter." When asked what hitter thought of it, he said, "It's not that it's easy for the batter to see, but it didn't seem to make much difference, so I thought I could try throwing it a little more exaggeratedly."
Futaki pitched in a training game against Hiroshima on February 19th, but gave up three runs in the first inning, and then runs one run in the training game against Hanwha of Korea on February 23rd. He did not pitch in the first team in the exhibition games, and is currently playing for the farm team.
When I watched his second-division game against Seibu on March 21 after the farm team's regular season, his pitch form had returned to a similar shape to last season. Could the reason for his return to his pitch form be related to the fact that he said during the spring training camp in Ishigakijima that the way he sees batters hasn't changed?
"Well, of course the way the batters see the ball doesn't change, but my output hasn't improved at all, I wasn't throwing balls that I was satisfied with, and I couldn't control the ball at all, so that's it" (interview with Lotte Urawa on April 4th).
Although he has given up on trying a new form, he continues to aggressively attack the inside pitches to right-handed hitter.
"I've always had trouble with pitches to the inside right, so I think that if I can overcome that and learn to throw it properly, it will broaden the range of my pitching, so that's what I'm focusing on now."
Is he pitching a straight ball to the right-handed hitter fastball, or is it the shoot he practiced during spring training?
"I am also throwing shots, but even I can't really tell unless I look at the numbers, and it's hard to tell just from the video. I don't need to worry about it curving like crazy, I just want it to curve a little bit, so I throw with that in mind."
Regarding breaking ball, he said, "They won't change, but my main pitches will be straight and fork, so I'd like to be able to control those well."
He had pitched in relief in three games since Seibu Lions' second-division game on March 21, but started in the Seibu Lions' second-division game on April 11 and pitched four innings.
As he looks to be promoted to the first team, he said, "I think the most important thing is to be able to pitch anywhere, keep the opponents closer produce results, and produce results that will make people think that I have no choice but to be promoted, so I really want to do my best to achieve results." As young players flourish in the first team, Futagi will also be pitching in the first team, so he will be working hard in the farm team to achieve results.
Interview and text by Yuta Iwashita
