"The quality of the ball was completely different. I could feel the difference in breaking ball and the extension of the fastball."

Lotte's second-year development Tsuyoshi Tanimura felt this way about the difference between professional and high school pitcher players last season, his first year as a pro. He played 44 games in the farm last season, batting .144, 1 Home Run and 4 RBI. He had few opportunities to play in the early spring, but after the freshman All-Star season, he appeared in 13 games in August and 9 of 12 games starting line-up in September.

After the season ended on November 22nd, he participated in the Japan Winter League Advance 2025, aiming to improve his level in actual games. He played in 14 games in the Winter League, batting .417 (36-15) with 8 RBI. "During the season, I swung at dropping balls, but in the Winter League, I started missing more low fork and change-up. I think that was a good thing," he reflected.

Although he recorded a batting average of .417 in the winter league, he regretted not Home Run and only getting two doble, saying, "I was able to maintain my batting average, but I didn't get many long hits." However, he said, "I was able to hit the ball hard in the opposite direction and get more hits after being cornered, so I think that was good."

Speaking of "a strong pitch in the opposite direction," although not in the Winter League, in a Miyazaki Phoenix League game Chunichi on October 6, 2011, Muuto Kanamaru, batting second without an out runner in the 0-0 5th inning, hit the fourth pitch from strike with 1 ball 2 to hit a high ball to the outside corner . He hit a high fastball pitch on the outside corner to third base line break doble the ball, which was good. He also expressed his satisfaction, saying, "I'm glad I was able to pull it off and hit it pretty well.

Tanimura's goal for the future is to "become a batter who can maintain a good batsmanship and hit long balls," and when asked what he needs to do to achieve that, he said, "I need to avoid swinging at balls that are out of the strike zone. Also, when a ball that I can hit comes my way, I think I need more strength to swing hard and hit it, so I would like to continue to improve those areas."

Regarding his third base defense, he said, "I'm practicing quite a bit right now, and I'm catch and throw well, so I'd like to keep it up." He is working to improve his skills through defense practice every day at Lotte Urawa Baseball Stadium.

Spring training begins on February 1st. "I think my batting is my selling point, so I want to work hard to hit that well," he vowed. And for this season, his second year as a pro, he said with great enthusiasm, "I want to improve my batting average and hit long balls." Even though he's on the farm team, he'll need to make an impression with his bat in order to get a chance to play. In his second year, he wants to get more playing time on the farm team and improve his batting average and long-range hitting ability.

Interview and text by Yuta Iwashita