Nippon-Ham Fighters manager Tsuyoshi Shinjo attended a staff meeting at the team's second-division facility in Kamagaya, Chiba, on the 7th, and gave his first interview in about a month and a half. He arrived at the stadium around 12:15 PM and commented on pitcher Kohei Arihara, acquired from Softbank Hawks, saying, "We've already received an incredible present for Christmas." He continued, "As for Arihara, I definitely want him to pitch 180 inning. After talking with him, I think Ito, Arihara, Kitayama, and Tatsu can all pitch with five days of rest. Of course, I'd like to start with Arihara in the first game of the ESCON series. I think everyone else wants that too. I'll discuss it with him again, and I'd like him to go." He predicted that Arihara will start in the second opening game of the season against Lotte Marines on March 31st (ESCON series).
Ito, Kitayama, and Tatsuya have already been confirmed for the opening game against Softbank Hawks on March 27th, meaning the starting lineup for the first four games has been decided. Regarding Arihara's return to his former team, who tied with Ito for the most wins with 14 wins last season and pitched 175 inning, he said, "He's huge. Really huge. Really huge. I didn't know Arihara when he was with The Fighters, but I love players who become a different person the moment they put on their uniform, and who have a sense of contrast when they take it off. In my opinion, he could win about 18 games. There were many times when Arihara looked like a normal pitcher from the first to third innings, so if he could just fix that, he'd be fine. I thought his tempo was a little off. catcher needs to be more creative and create that rhythm, that 'pom pom, pom pom' rhythm."
This season marks his fifth year in office. "Before becoming number one in Japan, we want to win the league championship. I want to play baseball that shows that we're not going to let (Softbank Hawks) win three consecutive championships. In my mind, the person to beat is Kokubo Hiroki. The only way to do that is to win by a huge margin. We can get 96 wins. If we play a fine-tuned baseball," he said, confidently declaring his goal of winning the league championship for the first time in 10 years.
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