In his first season last year, Nippon-Ham-Ham infielder Hide Yamagata played in 84 games, including 51 starts, and recorded a batting average of .232. In the opening game of this season on March 27th (against Softbank Hawks at Mizuho Pepe Dome), Yamagata has been booked to be the fifth batter and shortstop, with Moinelo the only starting pitcher for the opposing team, and further progress is expected.

His acrobatic infield defense is one of a kind and one of the best in baseball. Looking back on his first year as a pro, he said, "Even as an amateur, I thought that being a pro meant making sure to get outs on balls that could be made into outs. I felt that was definitely true. My next challenge is to expand the range of outs I can make." Last season, he played second base and shortstop and made only two errors, but he is not at all satisfied. "There were a lot of plays, like throw on cut plays, where I thought, 'I could have made an out,' and I made about 10 mistakes that didn't make it into the record," he said, analyzing his own play in detail. "In order to gain pitcher 's trust, I absolutely cannot let myself forget," he said, maintaining a high level of awareness.

During last season, he received encouragement from an unexpected legend. That person was Makoto Kaneko, who served as the Lotte Marines' first-team chief defense base running coach until last season. "He told me to 'do your best,' and Pin (Ishii) said, 'I'm not the type of person who would normally say something like that.' I was so happy. I'll do my best to get even a little closer to him," he recalled. The words of encouragement from this great veteran, short stop for Nippon-Ham for 21 years and won the Golden Glove Award three times as second baseman, only increased the 23-year-old's motivation.

If short stop from the team wins the Golden Glove Award, he will be the first since Kaneko in 2009. "I'd like to think it's me, but if I don't win it, I'll feel frustrated. On the other hand, if I don't win it, I'll feel frustrated forever. Maybe it's good to keep feeling frustrated all the time." The highly ambitious defense expert will follow in the footsteps of the legend and continue to improve his level. (Kawakami Haruki)

◆Yamagata Shu was born on May 1, 2002 in Sanjo City, Niigata, and is originally from Kokubunji City, Tokyo. He is 23 years old. He played for Kokubunji Little League and Inagi Little Senior, then went on to Waseda University through Waseda Graduate School. He is the second player from Waseda Graduate School to become a professional baseball player in 66 years, after former Chunichi Dragons player Mori Toru. At Waseda University, he was named to the Best Nine in the spring of his fourth year and played for the Japan University National Team. His special skill is piano. He is 176 cm tall and weighs 80 kg. He throws and bats right-handed.