Yorito Okumura (18), the third overall pick in the Lotte Draft with a left arm speed of 148 km/h, pledged on January 12 to become a "national treasure level ace" along with fellow first overall pick Genki Ishigaki pitcher (18) of Kentucky University Takasaki.

In November, after the fateful draft, Okumura took the Keikyu line from his training camp in Nomidai to a movie theater in Kamiooka. He was there to watch the smash hit "National Treasure." "It was a really fun three hours. I ate popcorn while watching. I was so inspired, I even put a sticker on the back of my smartphone." He was glued to the screen, not even bothering to go to the bathroom, which was a concern given the long duration of the screening.

The film tells the story of Kikuo Tachibana (Ryo Yoshizawa), who, in the world of Kabuki where lineage is paramount, competes fiercely with Shunsuke Ogaki (Ryusei Yokohama), the son of a prominent actor, and dedicates his life to his art. Ishigaki and Okumura are rivals who both thrilled Koshien and fought together as members of the Japanese high school national team. Just like in the film, attention is focused on the friendly rivalry between the two young men, but they expressed their enthusiasm, saying, "In the film, only one of us was featured, but we will do our best so that both of us can become 'national treasures'."

On this day, he was at Lotte Urawa and looked very satisfied as he entered the third day of the rookie joint voluntary training. "I can't wake up in the morning, so I have Ishigaki come and wake me up," he said with a laugh. "I want to hone my high-quality, one-of-a-kind straight pitch," said Okumura. The "Youth Edition" begins. In both baseball and Kabuki, the first step is practice. (Kato Hiroshi)