Nippon-Ham Kota Tatsu pitcher He respects his senior, who won the most wins two years in a row, and says, "(Arihara) throws more than 50% of his pitches on a dropped ball pitcher so I haven't met him yet, but I'd like to hear how he uses that and other things, I'd like to hear how he uses it," he said, curious about how he uses fork, a technique he also excels at. I'm looking forward to meeting the right-hander, who has won 101 games in Japan and the United States.

The opening rotation for March 27th has already been decided to be Ito, Kitayama, Tatsu, and Arihara, in that order. There are four right-handed pitchers who are also fastball throwers and use dropping balls as their finishing pitches, and "if you throw a lot of dropping balls the day after throwing a lot of dropping balls, they're going to get hit. I think there's also the way you create your cards, like right-handed (pitcher) left-handed (pitcher) right-handed (pitcher). I don't really like pitching after Kitayama (laughs), but that's how it feels," he said, talking about the difficulty of pitching after Kitayama, who is good at dropping balls, saying, "You need a wide range of skills, such as speed, power, and a variety of breaking ball," and aiming to further improve his level.

Manager Shinjo has a plan to rotate his four main pitchers, Ito, Kitayama, Tatsu, and Arihara, on a five-day rest schedule, saying, "Last year, I pitched on a four-day rest schedule at the end of the season, so I haven't forgotten that feeling at all, and I think I can do it." In the final stage of the Climax Series against Softbank Hawks in October last season, he started the first game and then started the sixth game on a four-day rest. He pitched six innings, giving up two runs, and kept the game close. He will make good use of that experience in a short, do-or-die series this season.