On the 5th, Lotte's Ryo Sakai did some voluntary training with Yuki Karakawa at his home stadium, Zozo Marine Stadium.

He was invited by Karakawa and trained with him over the New Year holidays. His theme for this off-season is "My goal is to finish my voluntary training in Ishigaki without giving up. I hear I'll be running a lot," and he is aiming to "complete" his voluntary training on Ishigaki Island with Naoya Masuda and Yuki Karakawa.

When asked what he would like to learn from Karakawa, Sakai revealed, "He has access to a lot of different information and is able to decide what to cut and what to take, which I think is the secret to his success for 19 years, so I feel like I should start by trying out a variety of things and then gain the criteria for deciding what to cut and what to take."

For this season, his second year, he is determined to "be able to pitch hard from his second year like Kimura-san," and added emphatically, "I won't get paid unless I pitch in the first team. I want to pitch a lot."