On April 7th, Ginji and Yuji Kaneko appeared on the fifth episode of "Monday's Patele Iki" broadcast on the official Pacific League TV YouTube channel, and commented on the rookie's performance this season under the theme of "A bumper crop of rookies in Pacific League." This time, we will deliver some "tidbits" that could not be included in the broadcast.

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　Rui Muneyama player, Seiya Watanabe player, Misho Nishikawa With the first-round draft rookies doing well in the first team this season, the show picked up on the performances of rookie players. Ginji and Kaneko evaluated them from their own perspectives. During the show, there was a scene where photos of Ginji and Kaneko from their rookie days were shown. After the live broadcast, Kaneko looked back on his first year as a professional.

Kaneko, who joined Saitama Seibu as the third draft pick in 2012, joined the first team from spring training camp in his first year. He made his presence felt from his rookie year, appearing in a total of 94 games, recording 62 hit, 12 stolen base, and a batting average of .223. We asked him about the most memorable event of his career.

"It was the opening game, when my name was called as starting line-up and I took position. I was a student (until a few months ago), so it was my first time playing in a packed stadium, and I thought, 'Wow, this is amazing...' My legs were shaking from the moment I lined up as starting line-up before the game. Of course, my legs were shaking when I stepped up to bat for the first time, too, and when I swung the bat, I thought, 'Just swing at the first pitch!' and got my first hit."

When asked about an episode with his teammates, Kaneko said that he was the only new recruit that year who started in the first team from the training camp, and that he was so nervous that he "couldn't really talk to the senior fielder." Among them, he told us a memorable episode with a certain player, saying, "The first time I was invited to dinner was by Hoshi (Takanori) and Takeyama (Shingo)."

"Takayuki Kishi and Ryoma Nogami often took me out to dinner. As all three of us were quite thin, we formed a team called the 'Gallies' (laughs)."

Kaneko-san lost about 6-7kg in the first month or two of the season, and had such a small appetite that the management told him, "You don't need to practice for now, just go to the minor league and eat a lot." "The three of us from the Garies would go out to eat, and we'd eat in silence until we were full. And once we were full, we'd finally start talking..." he said, reminiscing about his time with the Garies.

Interview and text by Mayuko Goto

LIVE broadcast program "Monday is also Pate-tele"
・Streaming date: Every Monday from 9pm (scheduled to be available until October during the season)
・Streaming destination: Pacific League TV official YouTube channel
・Cast: A pair of former professional baseball players will appear each week
(Ginji and Yuji Kaneko / GG Sato and guests / Ryota Igarashi and T-Okada / Motonobu Tanishige and Tomoya Satozaki)

Next week on the 14th (Monday), GG Sato and Tsuji Hatsuhiko will be appearing. Don't miss it!