As of the end of last season, Lotte's Kazuya Ojima had reached the required number innings pitched for five consecutive years.

If you look for pitcher who have reached the innings pitched for five consecutive years in the NPB, there are only two people: Kojima and Hiromi Ito (Nippon-Ham). Takayuki Kato (Nippon-Ham), who had reached the regulation innings pitched for four consecutive years until 24, had 119 times last season, Shosei Togo (The Giants) had 111 times last season, and Shinnosuke Ogasawara, who had been playing for Chunichi until 24, has moved his stage of activity to the majors.

Regarding reaching the required number innings pitched for the fifth consecutive year, Kojima was not satisfied, saying, "I dropped out midway through, and I didn't have any good games, so it was a bit of a disappointing season."

In 21, when he reached the regulation innings pitched for the first time, he was one of the young players with high expectations, but now he has grown to an ace. "Reaching the innings pitched of the regulations" is also the story of Kojima's growth. In an interview in July 21, he pitcher said, "I can't earn inning if I don't throw 7 or 8 times per game stably inning I can't earn it. What's more, since I throw on Tuesday and Wednesday at the beginning of the week, I think I can throw reliever in the second half or without worrying if I throw inning as long as possible and don't use reliever in my game, so when I throw at the beginning of the week, I want to think about inning more carefully than usual and throw long innings first." Even if I put the same long inning into words, after 23, I often talk about the "team axis" rather than the "self-axis".

In an interview in November 2011, he also expressed his sense of responsibility, saying, "I think it's important to pitch inning. Winning is the best, but even if we lose, I think about being able to pitch long inning, especially at the beginning of the week. No matter how you look at it, if the other team is an ace pitcher, we won't be able to win every week in a row, so we might end up losing, but I think it's more important to pitch long inning in that situation."

As I get older, I feel "awareness" from my words. It is also related to the fact that when he was young, he threw Ayumu Ishikawa and Manabu Mima long inning to rest the relief team, which was the axis of the starting rotation at the time. "(At that time) Mima-san and others threw 8 innings, and I was able to win in 5 or 6 innings, and this time I hope I can be in the opposite position and inherit that soul for the team even a little," Mima revealed this episode when asked about his memories with Mima when he announced his retirement.

He is also resistant to breakdowns, and he only left last season due to acute back pain, and has not had a single major breakdown in the past five years. In order to continue pitching in the starting rotation, not only is it resistant to breakdowns, but if you don't continue to produce results, you won't be able to make it to the starting mound once a week. It's great that you've been doing it for five years. "I think it's natural to throw for one year, and 12 wins is a career high for me, so I want to exceed that number. This season, he threw the required innings pitched and is expected to achieve double-digit win for the first time in two years.

▼ Kazuya Ojima 's innings pitched by year

* indicates reaching the required innings pitched

19 years: 54 1/3

20 years: 113 1/3

21 years: 146 *

22 years: 143 1/3 *

23 years: 158 1/3 *

24 years: 163 1/3 *

25 years: 145 *

Interview and text by Yuta Iwashita