He stuck with the cutter until the very end.

Lotte's Yuki Karakawa started the game against the Softbank Hawks on the 3rd, and just as he predicted during his retirement press conference on September 8th when he said, 'Right now, I've been helped so much by the cutter and have such an attachment to it,' he threw a final cutter to catcher Toshiya Sato, getting Tomoya Masaki to swing and miss as he struck out to conclude his playing career.

After leaving the mound, Karakawa reflected, "I threw a low, sinking ball on the first pitch, so I tried to make adjustments as I pitched. Honestly, I wanted to throw faster balls. It was a pitch that perfectly represented my 19 years, choosing to line up strikes even at this stage. I was moved by Masuda's pitching that followed."

Since the latter half of 2018, when Karakawa was reassigned to the bullpen, he changed his style to a pitch sequence centered on the cutter. It is an important pitch type that supported Karakawa in the latter half of his career. When he first started throwing primarily cutters, he said, 'It wasn't that I made a firm decision (to focus on the cutter),' but he threw it with pride and specific intent, stating, 'Since I am a pitcher who throws the cutter as my main pitch, or rather throws it often, I have my own particular standards for it. Because of that, I am able to pitch now, so I value it.'

◆ The Ideal Way to Get an Out

One of his ideals was to get batters out with pop flies using his cutter.

I'm not looking to get groundouts. I want to increase the hop component of my cutter, so personally, I'm happier with pop-fly outs.

In the Yakult minor league game on June 1, 2024, Karakawa pitched three innings and recorded five of his nine outs as flyouts. However, he also remarked, 'In the previous game against Yakult, there were outs where the batters made solid contact, so that was somewhat unsatisfying; I think those are different from the kind of flyouts I am aiming for.'

He shared his ideal flyout, saying, 'A pop fly that goes a bit higher is best. The ideal scenario is for the batter to think they've hit it well, only for it to end up as a flyout.'

◆ Also grateful to the catchers

Behind the support for his pitch style centered on the cutter, there was also the presence of the catchers. While interviewing Karakawa, there were many instances where he expressed gratitude to the catchers.

A representative example is the Seibu Lions game on September 23rd last year, where Karakawa, who became the win pitcher after holding them to zero runs over 7 innings as a closer, said in the hero interview, 'I really wanted to show Ueda a great view, so I'm happy we could stand on the podium together.' Similarly, in an interview on September 21st, 2024, regarding the factors for his good form, he cited the presence of the catcher, saying, 'Whether it's Toshiya Sato or Tamura, they communicate with me and are easy to talk to on a daily basis, so I think that's a factor. If anything, I think it's thanks to the catcher.'

Regarding Karakawa's retirement from active duty, Sato Toshi expressed his gratitude, saying, 'Yuki-san taught me the fundamentals. Whether it was about pitch selection or working together as a battery, it was Yuki-san who gave me the opportunity to start having conversations with pitchers—not just him—about their condition, what was good or bad, and how things were looking on a given day.'

The cutter became Karakawa's trademark. It will be lonely not being able to see him overpower hitters with that cutter anymore.

Interview and text by Yuta Iwashita