"It's much better."

Lotte's Tokito Kawamura is in much better form than he was at this time last year.

On September 16, 2022, Kawamura underwent right ulnar nerve anterior transfer surgery and right elbow medial collateral ligament reinforcement surgery at a hospital in Osaka Prefecture. In 2023, he did not pitch in regular season for either the first or second division, and signed a development contract during the off-season that year.

In an interview on April 3, 2012, he said, "I don't feel any pain when I'm throwing, and I think that my arm swing is weak because I'm scared, so I still have one more step to go." He expressed dissatisfaction with the speed of fastball, saying, "I'm only currently in the low 40s, so I'd like to throw in the late 40s at the latest."

On July 31 of the same year, he returned to the team but did not pitch in the first team. In October of the same year, in the Miyazaki Phoenix League, he said, "In my last appearance in Miyazaki, I was able to throw 147 km/h, which was quite powerful, but up until then I had been hovering around the mid-40s, so I think I finally got a good feeling at the very end."

During the off-season, he trained independently at Driveline in the United States with Yuji Nishino, Shunsuke Nakamori, and Haruya Tanaka he analyzed his movements and identified areas of improvement to his form in order to increase the speed of fastball pitches.

In the opening match against The Giants on February 24, he threw a powerful fastball, clocking a maximum speed of 148 km/h. "It was good at that time, but I still feel like I want to get better through trial and error," he said. He closer runs said he was "trying and telling," but he was good at his 145-kilogram fastball in a 6-0 game against The Giants on April 8 against with no outs in the third inning of a 6-0 win without a runner and a strikeout from 1 ball, 2 strike to struck out.

"When you're a starter, your output is inevitably lower than when you're a relief pitcher, so I'd like to improve it a bit more."

While he spoke of some areas he needs to work on, after the fastball than last year, saying, "The speed of my pitches has increased a little, and I think I'm now able to control them to a certain extent. I think it's definitely better than last year."

Kawamura's weapon, the fork, is "in the process of trying various things right now." In the opening game against The Giants on February 24, with two out runner s in the seventh inning of a 1-1 tie, Yu Aramaki struck out Yu Aramaki on the fifth pitch of the game with two struck out strike outs in the seventh inning of a 1-1 tie at 136 kph fork and a 2-1 pitch with one out in the ninth inning without runner Yuto Akihiro on the sixth pitch of the game at 136 kph from 1 ball 2 strike struck out fork has a good drop from the strike zone to the ball zone.

"I've been changing my grip, but when I pitched against the Giants in February there were good balls and bad balls, so I feel like I'm trying to become more consistent in being able to throw those kinds of balls."

slider also had a good 132-kilogram outside corner slider that he missed struck out from 1 ball 2 strike to right-hander Daiki Masuda with two outs runner none in the third inning of a 6-0 game on April 8 The Giants against a two-gun team.

"I can throw slider consistently, so I think it's a pitch I can use."

He has been given the starting role since the start of the season, and said, "I want to pitch consistently for long inning," after pitching seven innings against The Giants on April 8. "Pitching consecutively as a relief pitcher is tough, but it's easy to adjust, so I think I'm doing fine in that regard," he said, adding that he has no stiffness or pain in his right elbow.

His goal is to pitch on the first team mound for the first time in 22 years. "It doesn't matter where it is, but I can't say that, but I would like to pitch as a starter if possible," he said. When he gets the chance to pitch in the first team in the future, he made a strong comment saying, "I want closer." Now, he will face the challenges in preparation for that time.

Interview and text by Yuta Iwashita