On the 15th, Softbank Hawks pitcher Naoyuki Uwasawa (31) vowed to be the pillar of the team in the "2026 season without Arihara." He held a public training session in Miyakojima, Okinawa, and threw 30 pitches to catcher in his first bullpen session. In response to Arihara's transfer to Nippon-Ham, who won the most wins in two consecutive years in 2024 and 2025 and threw the most inning on the team in 2025 with 175, Uesawa declared that he would become an "Iron Man."
"When Arihara leaves, someone has to take up inning." In 2013, his first year after the transfer, he was part of the starting rotation and recorded a career-high 12 wins in 23 games (also 12 wins in 2021) with ERA of 2.74. Even so, he said, "I wanted to achieve better results than last year (2013), whether Arihara was there or not. I want to continue what I've been doing and improve on that," and he was conscious of surpassing his career-high of 170 innings, which he recorded in 2011 while with Nippon-Ham.
After the 2013 season ended, he gained 3-4kg through weight training in an effort to improve his average pitching speed. "I thought I might lose a bit if I couldn't run at all, but I'm actually doing better at running. My muscle mass has really increased, and it's been a really good training session," he said, feeling quite satisfied with his current "heaviest body ever" at 92kg. He added, "Even if I bulk up, there's no point if it doesn't translate to baseball. If it makes it easier to move if I slim down a bit, I'll do that, but if there's no need to slim down, I'll just leave it as is..." He plans to work towards his ideal weight based on how his pitching is going.
Reducing the burden on the shoulder and elbow is also an important factor for consistent performance as a member of the starting rotation. On this day, he repeated the medicine ball throwing motion that leads to the pitch motion, saying, "I wish I could practice the motion that leads to pitch in training other than holding the baseball ball. He said he used to throw 40 to 50 bullpen pitches two days before pitching during the season, but "I hope to reduce that too. I want to challenge myself because I have never achieved the number of inning pitches I have thrown. The team is grateful to have someone who throws long inning pitches. I want to be a player who helps the team get around," he said with power in his words.
"I know Arihara wearing the old The Fighters uniform. It was refreshing to see him in the new uniform (laughs)," he said, but he has high hopes for 2026. "Last year (2025), we were able to win the championship and become number one in Japan, so I hope we can do it again," he said, setting his sights on defeating rival teams and reaching the top again.
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Nippon-Ham】Manabu Iwadate, the coach who gave Arihara the number "74," said, "I want you to win 74 games in four years.
Softbank Hawks】Tomohisa Ozeki is eager to open the season pitcher for the second time in his career, "I will gladly do my best when I am entrusted with the job.
Softbank Hawks】Kensuke Kondo, to attack the fastball, which has been a challenge for him, he has been refining his mating ability.
Softbank Hawks】Haru Matsumoto continues Arihara-ism of going to bed early and getting up early "I'll have time for myself," aiming to be in the starting rotation for the season opener for the first time ever.
Nippon-Ham The number "74" of Kohei Arihara was carried by the leaders of all 12 teams last season for the first time in history for a player.
