baseball PERSOL Pacific League TV's official YouTube channel "Monday also goes to Patele" started to have fun even on Mondays when there is no live broadcast. On May 26, Mr. Motonobu Tanishige, Mr. Tomoya Satozaki, and Mr. Norinobu Kawakami appeared as a guest and gave a variety of talks, including key players and memories of each team in the exchange match.

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The "Japan Life SEPA Exchange Match 2025" will finally begin on Tuesday, June 2. During this period, you play against teams from different leagues over a period of three weeks. There are many teams that lead the regular season by outpacing teams in the same league, so there will be important games for each club. When I asked Mr. Kawakami, who has a total of 117 wins in Japan and the United States in his 17 years as a professional, about the difficulties and what he was conscious of, he began to talk about the difference between the baseball and the Sepa.

"In a game at Central League, one of the keys is how you can keep the inning out of the batting order at No. 9 and pitcher and how you can keep them from bunting. In Pacific League games played under the DH system, the No. 9 also has a reasonably good hitter, so you need to be more wary of long hits than usual, and you often don't bunt. It was difficult for me to change my approach and mindset from what I normally do."

When it comes to ball distribution, he says, "You don't have to outwit the other side." He recalled that he would change his offensive approach to outsmart Central League players, who he faced a lot of opponents, and then build his pitching with the back of the game in mind, but on the other hand, against Pacific League players he faced only once a year, he often chose pitches based on hitter 's reaction.

pitch differently against a different opponent

During these interleague games, Kawakami was conscious of varying the speed of his pitches. "I don't usually throw curveballs at this timing, but I'll try to throw the slowest curveball possible. I'm not good with fork, but I'll try to use them a little more," he said, showing how he made changes to his usual pitching style.

He also said that pitch techniques that take into account the characteristics of the stadium are also required, saying, "Depending on the environment, you can use breaking ball that you normally can't use, and conversely, you can't use curveballs that you normally can." Kawakami said that fork was better than usual at Zozo Marine Stadium, and when he actually pitched at the stadium on May 20, 2005, he showed off a spectacular pitch, allowing one hit, no Hit by Pitch, and one runs in nine innings (no runner pitch until the seventh inning). Looking back on the different environment and against different opponents, he said with a smile, "I'm glad I was able to show my true colors."

Finally, when asked about pitcher in Pacific League that he is paying attention to, he said, "There are few teams with such a complete starting rotation. I'm interested to see how other teams respond," pointing out Saitama Seibu 's starting pitchers. Tatsuya Imai Regarding pitcher, he praised him, saying, "He makes you think he might achieve no hitter. He's becoming that kind of pitcher."

Interview and text: Ryohei Tokairin

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 Monday, June 2nd, Ginji, Yuji Kaneko, and Tsuyoshi Nishioka will be appearing. Don't miss it!