Lotte's Ko Matsukawa was caught stolen base second base in a practice game against Korea Lotte on the 1st.

With two outs in the 2-4 sixth inning and one on first base Haruya Tanaka on the second pitch thrown to Jung Min-ze from 1 strike, Matsukawa quickly throw to second base for the out when first base runner substitute Zang Doo-sung made the start.

◆ Training with catcher from the WBC team

In recent years, Matsukawa has been doing his own training with the themes of swinging hard when batting and throwing when defense.

This year, he revealed, "As catcher, throwing was an issue, so I focused on throwing. I think I've been continuing to do that. When batting, I take the lead and then go for the ball in one shot. I have a habit of dropping back and then going in, so I'm practicing while keeping that in mind."

During the off-season, he has been training independently with WBC Japan representatives Nakamura Yuhei (Yakult) and Sakamoto Seishiro (Hanshin Tigers), honing his throwing technique. "They told me that I still have a lot to learn from getting to the ball. Instead of going to catch the ball, I think if you get your foot in front of it, you'll be able to catch it close to the ball. Sakamoto and Nakamura Yuhei taught me how to move your feet," he said.

"I wasn't able to throw the ball as well as I wanted, but with Sakamoto pushing me from behind, I felt a new way of moving my feet when I went forward. I'll continue to keep that in mind and try to make sure I can throw the ball properly. I think my rate of preventing stolen base is an issue, so I'll keep that in mind," he said during the Miyakonojo spring training camp.

◆ Silently practicing batting during Miyakonojo spring training camp

When it came to batting, even after the training tee session during the Miyakonojo spring training camp had finished, he continued to swing his bat silently at a machine in a birdcage, saying, "As Saburo said, with Teraji and (Sato) Toshiya, who are both good batting catcher, I couldn't play just as catcher. I think I have a lot of issues to work on in my batting as well. I hope I can work on overcoming those issues."

Since the start of external matches, he has played in seven games so far, batting .267 (15-4) with one RBI, including a multi hit game in a friendly against the Czech Republic on February 26th. He was hit in a starting line-up game against Korea's Lotte Marines on March 1st, where he started as the eighth batter and catcher, but up until then he had hit in every game he had started in starting line-up.

In terms of base running, in a practice game against The Giants on February 17th, with short stop tied at 2-2 in the fifth inning with one out and a runner on second base, Ryusei Miyazaki hit hit that fell between shortstop and left field.He made a good decision and made a run from second base to score.

This season marks his fifth year as a professional, and players who graduated from university have been coming into the pros since this year. "It's already my fifth year. It was the same in my first year, but I haven't been able to perform well for the past four years. I want to aim for a career high and do everything I can to get good results. First of all, I want to enjoy baseball." In his first year, he played in 76 games, but from his second year onwards, his playing opportunities have decreased significantly to 9 games, 2 games, and then 6 games. With a new manager this season, he is hoping to get more playing time in the first team once again.

Interview and text by Yuta Iwashita