Lotte's Oto Hayasaka "I want to be able to pitch on the first team stage" The presence of fellow students Kimura and Terachi is "a good motivator"

Baseball King

2025.6.9(月) 00:25

Lotte's Oto Hayasaka [Photo by Takuto Yamashita]
Lotte's Oto Hayasaka [Photo by Takuto Yamashita]

"The atmosphere is different from the farm team, so I think it was a great experience to be able to pitch in that environment."

Lotte's second year high school graduate, Oto Hayasaka, was the first to move up to the first team mound and is currently working on the farm with a challenge to be promoted again.

He was promoted to the professional mark for the first time on May 11 and made his first professional appearance in the Seibu match on the same day. He threw 22 pitches in his debut, allowing three hits, a hit strike out and a runs, in his debut, including a 0-9 no-out, runner eighth inning with a leadoff struck out Natsuo Takizawa on two balls and two strike and a 148 kph fastball on the seventh pitch of the seventh inning to record his first professional strike out.

In his second professional appearance against Rakuten on the 14th of the same month, he pitched in the eighth inning of a 0-4 loss, and struck out the leadoff hitter Yuya Ogo with a 148-kilogram fastball, followed by a Daisuke Nakashima with a second baseman grounder with a 149-kilogram fastball, and finally a Ryosuke Tatsumi with a second baseman grounder with a 149-kilogram fastball. inning cleaned up with three people.

On May 16, two days after this appearance, he was removed from the first-team roster and is currently playing for the farm team. Regarding the issues and gains he felt after pitching in the first team, Hayasaka revealed, "I think my fastball is my weapon, but it was also hit back firmly in front of me, so I think that's an area where I still need to practice and improve."

closer runs closer On the farm, he said, "I'm trying to reduce Walk, first baseman, strike, and take pitcher simple but difficult things rather than Walk, the first hitter, and other details.

He is increasingly using fewer pitches, such as 10 pitches per inning against Rakuten minor league on May 25th, and just 9 pitches per closer in a inning against The Giants minor league on May 28th.

"If I can finish the game with a small number of pitches, that's fine, but I'd also like to try throwing breaking ball in different situations.Until now, I've just been throwing straight balls, so I'd like to try those kinds of things as well."

Speaking of breaking ball, during the spring training camp in Ishigaki Island he said, "I've already started throwing fork here and there since last year, but I'm planning to practice the curveball this off-season and start using it this season." However, he now feels confident, saying, "I've been throwing fork quite a bit in games. I've been able to get lefty batters to strike out and miss, so I think fork is getting better."

Ryusei Terachi, who is in the same year as him, and Yuto Kimura, who is also pitcher, are in their second year after graduating from high school, but are active as first-string players. Regarding their presence, Hayasaka said, "I think they are a good motivator, or rather, a sense of awareness."

"I want to achieve good results in the farm team so that I can pitch on the first team stage again soon." In order to play on the same stage as Kimura and Terachi, he will focus on results in the farm team.

Interview and text by Yuta Iwashita

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Lotte's Oto Hayasaka "I want to be able to pitch on the first team stage" The presence of fellow students Kimura and Terachi is "a good motivator"