Lotte's Yuki Karakawa held a public training session at Zozo Marine Stadium on the 5th.

Regarding his voluntary training last year, Karakawa said, "I tried to level up the pitches I have, and as I've always said, I played catch in December while focusing on slider, challenging pitches, and making my curveball faster. I tried to keep a balance so that I could focus as much on the proportion of pitch I threw in January." He mainly focused on improving pitch technique, but regarding his voluntary training for this season, he revealed, "When it comes to pitch, of course I want to improve my own accuracy, so the main focus will be improving my overall accuracy. I think the bigger theme during the off-season is to build a body that can withstand that."

In his final appearance last season against Seibu Lions on September 23rd, with the score at 1-0 in the third inning with one out and a runner on first, Manaya Nishikawa threw a ball with his first change-up, which was measured at 138 km/h, and in the fourth inning with the score at 1-0, Nevin, the first batter, batted looking, with change-up measured at 135 km/h, showing how fast he was throwing change-up towards the end of the season.In an interview on September 24th of last year, he commented about the increase in the speed of change-up, "Yes, it's a little fast, so ideally I'd like to slow it down a bit."

I wonder if this year he is thinking of throwing splitter, which he hasn't thrown much in recent years, rather than a fast change-up.

"I'm thinking of continuing to throw splitter in practice and using it wherever possible."

There was a time when he increased the proportion of fastball, but since the latter half of 2018, pitch style has basically relied on cutter. I wonder if he plans to continue using cutter as his main pitching pitch this year as well.

"Yes, that's right. I don't particularly have any plans to change my style."

Karakawa is the oldest pitcher on the team this season. "Manager Saburo is a senior that I really like, so I want to lift him up in celebration in the fall, and I think I need to perform in a way that he'll need me there. I'm prepared to pitch if I'm called upon, no matter what the situation, wherever I am, so I want to be prepared for that." He is preparing for his 19th season as a professional, the same as number.

Interview and text by Yuta Iwashita