The new Rakuten Eagles batting coach Michihiro Ogasawara participated in the autumn training held at Rakuten Mobile Saikyo Park Miyagi on the 30th and began his duties. He spoke to the press after the practice. Coach Ogasawara expressed his enthusiasm, saying, 'There was a request from GM Ishii asking for my help. I don't know if I can be of help in every aspect, but in response to what has been asked of me, since the Rakuten Eagles are starting over from last place, I want to use my experience to contribute even a little to their offensive power.'

Ogasawara has extensive coaching experience, having served as the Chunichi second-team manager for three years starting in 2016, the Nippon-Ham head coach in 2020 and 2021, and the second-team and third-team batting coach for The Giants for one year each starting in 2022. Although this marks his return to the field after three years, he explained the background of his decision, saying, 'I had been away for three years, but looking from the outside, I still wanted to interact with players and move my body. There are still things I don't know. Since there is still room for me to grow and learn, I decided to accept the offer because I wanted to study alongside the players and grow together with the team.'

This season, the team languished in last place, ranking fifth in the league with a Home Run average of .239 and 103 home runs, while their 473 runs scored were the worst in the league. In addition to key hitter like Murabayashi, McCusker, and Tatsumi, there are many promising left-handed hitter such as Muneyama, Nakajima, and YG Yasuda, and expectations are high for further improvement with the support of Mr. Ogasawara, also known as "Guts," who was synonymous with full swings.