Anyway, it feels like I am building up my own good intuition.

Looking at Lotte's Akito Takabe during batting practice this fall, he is hitting using various ways of timing his swings.

During the final stages of autumn practice held at Zozo Marine Stadium, he was hitting with a form where his right foot remained perfectly still, but looking at his batting practice during the Miyakonojo autumn camp, he is hitting with a slightly different way of timing.

It's like an image of the hip joint. If I imagine how to use it, it just naturally ends up that way.

Could that be related to what he said during autumn practice at Zozo Marine Stadium: 'I am practicing while clarifying for myself how to use my left hand, how to use my feet, and the overall image'?

It might feel like it is connected to that.

I wonder if he has been able to practice exactly as he envisioned during this autumn camp.

I believe that if I can gradually grasp the feeling I have now, I will be able to compete. It is not like this year where I had no sense of it at all. I think I can clearly see how I want to approach things moving forward.

He can enter the off-season with a clear direction of what needs to be done. Despite being expected to be the fixed regular center fielder this season, he finished with disappointing results, appearing in 54 games with a .229 batting average, 7 RBI, and 3 stolen bases.

"Of course, the first thing is to get into the game. If I don't play, nothing matters, and if I can't play, I'll just quit baseball. I've made up my mind about that, so I'm working with the mindset of producing proper results and being able to play in games." The preparation and battle to achieve results next season have already begun.

Interview and text by Yuta Iwashita