On the 31st, Nippon-Ham announced that Tsuyoshi Nishioka (42), the former Chiba Lotte first-team chief batting and base running coach, will take over as the first-team general fielder coach. His number is 78. Nishioka joined the team starting with the autumn camp at Es Con Field on this day and expressed his determination at the inaugural press conference, saying, "I want to do my best for the players of The Fighters. I absolutely want to win the championship."

He has been on friendly terms with Manager Shinjo for some time, even inviting him to his own YouTube channel. He revealed that when he was appointed as a Lotte coach last year, he received a secret offer behind the scenes, with Shinjo telling him, 'Wear the Lotte uniform next year. But you haven't received an offer for the year after that yet, right?'

Starting from the fall camp, the policy is for him to instruct all fielders as the general fielder coach and also be entrusted as the first base coach. 'My workload has increased quite a bit. I'm juggling four roles: hitting, base running, defense, and mental coach,' he said, as he works hard as an unprecedented 'four-way coach,' including the mental aspect he considers so important.

Director Shinjo, who was present, expressed his immense trust by saying, 'I want him to decide the starting line-up for about 30 to 40 games. I'd even like to have him act as manager.' Mr. Nishioka replied, 'I want to spend time watching Director Shinjo's baseball up close.' A powerful tag team with mutual affection has been born. (Haruki Kawakami)