Rakuten Eagles outfielder Ryosuke Tatsumi vowed to fight through while carrying the thoughts of outfielder Kazuki Tanaka, who retired from active duty at the end of this season.

It was a meeting that left a profound impact. During a training camp for the Japan national university team before turning professional, he vividly remembers the play of Kazuki Tanaka, who was two years his senior. Reflecting on that time with his signature 'Tatsumi style,' he said, 'I met him for the first time when I was a university student, and he was incredible. Even after entering the pros, there hasn't been a player who has surpassed the impact he made on me back then, so I still think he's the only player who can truly compete with me. That's why I felt a sense of crisis, and I'm sad to see him go.'

He was drawn not only to his play, which utilized his exceptional physical abilities, but also to his personality. 'His running, hitting, fielding, and his character. He had a sort of model-student quality that I didn't have at the time. Although I'm a model student now myself, Tanaka had it all—human strength, running, hitting, and fielding—so I really looked up to him,' Tatsumi said, expressing his respect in his own characteristic way.

Kazutomo Tanaka won the Rookie of the Year award in 2018, but he has struggled with injuries in recent years and will retire after this season. Tatsumi understands the harshness of surviving in the world of competition. 'It is not as if you can keep wearing the uniform just because you want to; it is a world where results are demanded no matter how much potential you have. I want to become the kind of player where people think, if this guy is going to stay as the center fielder for a long time, then it couldn't be helped that I retired back then. I want to be a great player that the outfielders who have left so far, as well as the outfielders who will come in the future, can look up to.' With the feelings of the senior he respects in his heart, he envisioned further leaps forward.