On the 28th, Softbank Hawks announced that manager Hiroki Kokubo has entrusted Naoyuki Uwasawa with this season's opening pitcher.

Softbank Hawks released a video on the team's official X (formerly Twitter) in which manager Kokubo entrusted the opening pitcher to Naoyuki Uwasawa. In it, manager Kokubo revealed, "Naoyuki Uwasawa will be the opening pitcher for 2026. He and Ozeki were pitcher were guaranteed to be in the rotation regardless of the results of the exhibition games. After seeing his performance in the second half of last year and his efforts this offseason, and seeing how he performed in spring training, I decided that Uesawa was the only option, so I told him that."

In his first year with Softbank Hawks last season, Uwasawa pitched 144 2/3 innings in 23 games, recording 12 wins and 6 losses ERA of 2.74. This season, Kohei Arihara, who won the most wins title for two consecutive years, has moved to Nippon-Ham. This presents Uwasawa with a significant opportunity.