Seibu Lions Lions pitcher Shinya Sugai (22), who will be the opening pitcher, vowed on the 20th, "I hope I can pitch the way I want to."

He will be the starting pitcher for the team's first external game against the Lotte Giants of Korea (Nango) on the 22nd. He pitched no hitter at the same stadium against Orix Buffaloes Buffaloes in the Miyazaki Phoenix League on October 25th of last year, so he has excellent chemistry with the stadium.

On this day, he had catcher sit in bullpen and threw 34 pitches while carefully checking the data, saying, "I basically just looked at the curveball.I checked things like the angle of my wrist to see if it would be easier to curve if I bent it more."

Last season, his fourth year since graduating from high school, he appeared in 11 games and earned 5 wins, but there were many days when he didn't get a chance to pitch in the first team. Looking ahead to this season, where he aims for even greater success, he said with determination, "I think the reason I was initially nominated was to see if I could secure a spot in the starting rotation. I want to be able to pitch my own game while observing hitter' reactions."