Rakuten Eagles of Tatsuki Koja pitcher (24) opened his voluntary training at his home base, Rakuten Eagles Mobile's Strongest Park, on March 21. The left-hander, who won seven games last season, set "finishing the race" as his goal for his third year as a professional.

He had five wins in his first year and seven wins in his second year, the most among the team's starters, but he only innings pitched 83 1/3 innings, or 107 innings, which was short of the required number of innings pitched pitched. Last year, he started well, pitching his first complete game and shutout game as a pro against Lotte Marines on April 6th (ZOZO), but then his form deteriorated and win in May and June. He was demoted to the second team and was unable to "complete" the season.

The biggest reason for his inconsistent performance is poor form due to a lack of physical strength. This offseason, he focused on "eliminating clear issues" by running and core training. Furthermore, he wanted to "improve the reproducibility of his form when he's tired," so he checked video and data while also working on improving pitch form to eliminate unnecessary upper body movements. At the start of the new year, he trained independently at his alma mater, Toin University of Yokohama, where he was inspired by the sight of his juniors aiming to play professional or amateur baseball.

With Norimoto transferring to The Giants as a free agent and Hayakawa starting camp in the second team due to rehabilitation from left shoulder surgery, he has emerged as a candidate to be the opening pitcher for the first time in his third year, but "first of all, I'm in a position where I have to make it into the rotation." Last year, he was a little slow to adjust early in camp, so he plans to impress management by finishing early. "First of all, I want to complete the year with health as my number one priority. After that, I think I'll be able to see the required innings pitched," he said, vowing to stick to his starting rotation.