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."

Last season, Uesawa's first year with Softbank Hawks, he pitched in 23 games and 144 2/3 innings, finishing with a record of 12 wins and 6 losses and ERA of 2.74. Heading into this season, Kohei Arihara, who had been the team's most wins player for two consecutive years, was transferred to Nippon-Ham. Uesawa now has a chance to take on a major role.