Nippon Nippon-Ham pitcher Kohei Arihara, who is returning to the team after six years, held a joining press conference at ESCON on the 13th.
When asked about his impression of Coach Shinjo, he revealed, "I always had the impression that he was creepy, and that you never knew what he was going to do. He was a little difficult to work with."
When told that the manager had also pointed out an issue, saying, "There were many times when Arihara looked like an ordinary pitcher from the first to third innings," he replied, "Even as an opponent, I felt a bit uncomfortable playing against him, and I think there were some areas where we looked at things a little differently, so I think that's something I can learn a lot from, and I want to communicate a lot with him so that I can continue to grow."
When he returned to Japan from the majors in 2011, he chose Softbank Hawks over his former team. When asked why, the right-handed pitcher said, "Until now, I've chosen the team where I thought I could grow the most. I ended up with The Hawks in that way last time, but I think I was able to grow by experiencing a championship, and I'm really grateful for that. I thought that joining The Fighters at this timing would be the best way for me to grow from here on out, so I made that choice without changing." He will continue to grow under Manager Shinjo and will devote all his energy to helping the team win the league.
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