On the 29th, Softbank Hawks infielder Akihiro revealed his determination to join the first team for the first time at the start of the season. On that day, he trained independently at Mizuho PayPay. After gaining solid results under The Giants' Sakamoto and Softbank Hawks 's Yamakawa during the off-season, he will begin his training camp in Miyazaki with the A-group (equivalent to the first team).
Naturally, his expression became tense. "I've never played in the first team opening game, so that's my first goal." With the The Giants, he started camp in Group A for four consecutive years, except for his rookie year in 2021. However, in 2013 he was demoted two days before the opening game, and has yet to experience the opening game on the first team's stage. Even in 2013, when he had a batting average of .273 and hit 10 Home Run in 121 games, he spent the first 19 days of the season in the farm team.
He joined Softbank Hawks via trade in May 2013, and his first training camp with his current team will start in Group A. At the play ball meeting (staff meeting) on the 28th, manager Kokubo also expressed his hopes for the emergence of young players. With the team starting training camp with the goal of "creating a completely new team," Akihiro also expressed his eagerness to push his main players forward, saying, "Softbank Hawks has a particularly impressive lineup. It's about time for us to do the same."
Since his "big brother" Nakata Sho retired, he has been training independently this off-season under Yamakawa and Sakamoto, two of the baseball's most renowned hitter. He has steadily improved his batting by overcoming his batting issues, but what he feels most confident about is the amount of practice he has been doing, which he says is "incomparable to previous years." He says it feels like "four or five times the usual amount," and "I've practiced so much that I thought, 'What if I can't hit it with this?' I'm looking forward to February." He will be starting his sixth year as a pro at full throttle from February 1st. He is ready to make a big leap.
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