Currently at the bottom of the league, fielder has players in their early 20s, such as Misho Nishikawa, Shunsuke Nakamori Daito Yamamoto, Ryusei Terachi, and Nakamori Shunsuke, Haruya Tanaka, and Yuto Kimura, pitcher desperately trying to secure a place in the first team. Among them, the three "98 generation" players, Atsuki Taneichi, Shota Suzuki, and Ryusei Ogawa are clearly aware of their role as key players.
I felt this strongly about Ogawa when I was interviewing him. Since November 2011, Ogawa has been working hard since his fourth season last year to get the feeling of hitting low line drive to the shortstop/third base area. As a result, he played in a career-high 119 games last season, making it a year of growth for him. Although he was demoted to the minor leagues due to injury this season, he has played in 37 games so far, with a batting average of .194, RBI, and 4 stolen base.
In an interview on June 26th, Ogawa said about base running, "I think I'm a player in a position to definitely contribute to the first team. That goes for stolen base bases, and in base base running, I'm conscious of constantly looking for openings to steal the next base, so I want to work on that more and more." He also showed his awareness about defense, saying, "There was throw error the other day, and another wasteful error. I think I'm in a position where I can't make those kinds of mistakes, so I want to focus more on making sure I get outs and completing plays no matter what the situation."
"I will do my best in my role on offense, and I think I'm in a position to lead defense, so I want to eliminate mistakes, make good plays, help pitcher, and really think of myself as the core of defense and lead the team," he said with determination.
In 2019, his third year after graduating from high school, Taneichi tied for the team's highest number of wins with eight, and in 2020 he briefly led the league in strike out, but underwent Tommy John surgery in September of the same year. In 2023, he returned to the first team full-time and recorded a career-high of 10 wins in the same year, and last season he reached the required innings pitched in his career. So far this season, he has pitched 11 games and 67 innings, with a record of 2 wins, 4 losses, 48 strike out, and ERA of 3.36.
Taneichi said, "When I was younger, even if I went down in the fifth inning, Wakui-san and Ishikawa-san threw seven or eight innings, so I think that's what I need to do now. I'd like the young players to throw the short inning as hard as they can, and I want to throw the long inning so that I can rest the reliever."
Suzuki, who joined the team as the first pick in the 2020 draft, has pitched in 51 games since the start of last season, closer 27 consecutive games with zero earned runs, with 2 wins, 2 losses, 27 hold, 5 ERA of 0.73, showing outstanding stability. After the season ended, he was selected to represent Japan in the 3rd WBSC Premier 12 presented by LUGUSAS, making it a breakthrough year for him. This season, too, he has pitched the 8th and 9th innings of the winning game since the start of the season, and has pitched in 25 games so far with 1 win, 2 losses, 12 hold, 5 saves, and ERA of 3.33, supporting The Marines bullpen.
In an interview on May 28th, when there were many young players in bullpen, Suzuki said, "What I do hasn't changed, and the things I usually rely on are more evident without the veterans here, but I can't keep relying on them forever, so I hope I can take on that role."
When I told Suzuki in an interview on June 27th that I felt that Taneichi, Suzuki, and Ogawa were taking the lead as the core of the team, he replied, "That's right, and I think that people like us need to take the lead in leading the team."
According to Suzuki, there was no talk about the players in his year having to lead the team.
In order to build an ever-winning team, it is necessary for players from the 1998 generation, such as Taneichi, Suzuki, and Ogawa, as well as players of a similar generation, to grow into the core of the team and players who represent Japan.
Interview and text by Yuta Iwashita
