Lotte's fifth-round draft pick Hayato Fuji (Nippon Express) made his professional debut in the game against the Softbank Hawks on the 3rd, which was Yuki Karakawa's retirement game.

Fuji, who took the mound in the 6th inning trailing 0-1, faced the batting order starting with the number three hitter, Kensuke Kondo. After a 1-ball 1-strike count, he induced a fly out to center field with his signature slider to record his first professional out. He then retired the cleanup hitter, Ryoya Kurihara, on a fly out to center field using a slider on the fifth pitch of a 2-ball 2-strike count for the second out. Finally, he struck out Yuki Yanagita swinging with a 153 km/h inside fastball on a 2-ball 2-strike count.

In his professional debut, he pitched one inning with 13 pitches, recording one strike out and zero runs for a perfect start. After leaving the mound, Fuji reflected, 'I was very nervous. At first, I didn't recognize the batters and was overwhelmed when I saw the lineup, but I'm glad I was able to stay focused and pitch.'

Rehabilitation for a long period due to an injury

Fuji is expected to be a ready-to-play rookie coming from the industrial leagues, and he started February with the Miyakonojo spring camp group. He entered the bullpen on the first day of camp to throw. He stated, "I feel like I'm throwing my signature slider well, so I want to further improve its precision," and regarding his fork, he mentioned his challenges, saying, "In my mind, it's not dropping enough, so I want to learn properly and work on that."

In the bullpen, he revealed that the catchers told him, 'The ball is strong right at the point of catch, but in my case, it tends to shoot slightly inward. Since the ball is weak in that spot, I need to improve my accuracy and throw strong balls there. It's okay if it shoots a bit, but I was told to make sure I can deliver a strong ball, so I want to work on that.'

On February 11, he pitched in a live BP session, throwing 20 pitches and holding the batters to 2 hit as a closer. Ryusei Terachi, who caught Fuji's pitches, praised him, saying, 'His fastball was good, but I thought his breaking balls were great too. He has two types of slider and curves, and I felt the sharpness of all of them was excellent.'

Fuji expressed his enthusiasm, saying, 'I believe I just need to give everything I have and can offer, so I want to throw every single pitch with all my might,' as he headed into the practice game.

After making his first appearance against external competition in a practice game against Hiroshima on February 18, he pitched two scoreless innings in a practice game against the Czech national team on February 26. In March, he appeared in two games in the minor league educational league and started the season in the minors. In his first regular season appearance in the minors against Oisix on March 29, he pitched two scoreless innings as the closer and became the winning pitcher. He made his first professional start against Oisix on April 5, but left the mound after allowing 3 runs in 4 innings, and this appearance was his last in the minor league regular season.

During his time away due to injury and while undergoing rehabilitation, he faced himself, stating, 'I spent my time reflecting on why I got injured and focused on rebuilding my body and reviewing my form to prevent it from happening again.'

While he was sidelined due to injury, Karakawa reached out to him, and he recalled, 'I remember him talking to me, saying things like how amazing it is for brothers to both be pros when my younger brother (Yamato, Seibu Lions) was pitching in a game. Also, I could really tell just by watching that he had a clear intention behind every single throw during his pre-game adjustments and catch, and I thought he was incredible.' Through these interactions, he felt Karakawa's greatness firsthand.

On September 17th, he made his first appearance in a minor league regular season game since the April 5th game against Oisix, playing in a Rakuten Eagles minor league game. Regarding his slider after his return, he said, 'My strength in terms of breaking balls is the slider, so I want to work on being able to throw it properly.' He also expressed his intention to throw the fork aggressively, stating, 'I haven't been able to throw it much since returning from injury, but I want to work on being able to throw it properly.'

He joined the first-team practice in October, was registered to the first-team roster on the 3rd, and made his professional debut on the same day. Although his first-team debut came at the very end of the season, he wants to turn the confidence gained from his performance as a closer against the powerful Softbank Hawks cleanup hitters in his first professional appearance into a source of strength.

Interview and text by Yuta Iwashita