Rakuten Eagles ・ Kenta Maeda pitcher (37), who returned to the Japanese baseball world for the first time in 11 years, participated in the Kanatake camp in Okinawa, bullpen on January 1.

On the first day of camp, he was the first to arrive at bullpen at 11:11 a.m. With catcher seated, he threw 18 pitches, mixing fastballs and two seam fastball. The right-hander, who has a combined 165 wins in Japan and the US, nodded and said, "I was the first to get ready, so I ended up being the first to pitch, but I felt comfortable throwing. I put in a little more power than I expected, but I think it was a good presentation."

He is returning to Japanese baseball for the first time in 11 years. He entered bullpen on the first day of training camp because he felt a special connection to starting in a new environment. "It's special, and I want to get off to a good start. I thought I had to enter on the first day to show who I am on my new team," he said emphatically. Maeda Ken was the center of attention from the press and fans from the first day of training camp. "Also, with the Olympics and WBC this year, I think there will be fewer reporters, so I thought it would be better to enter (bullpen) early. I wanted to enter when there were a lot of people," he said, drawing laughs with his signature Maeda style.

The number of pitches is 18 pitches, the same as number 18. "I didn't plan to throw that many pitches, so I thought 18 would be fine. It doesn't really mean anything special, but I ended up with 18 pitches after number, but from now on, I will throw a little more pitches while deciding on my own plan, but since it was the first day, I auspiciously tried to throw 18 pitches at number 18."

In the future, we will further improve our condition. Looking forward to pitch in actual combat format during the Okinawa Kinbu camp. "I don't know what kind of form it will be, whether it's live BP or seat batting, but I think I'll throw it during the camp," he envisioned.