Lotte's new foreign left-handed pitcher Castillo is expected to perform well as one of the relief pitchers.

Castillo has pitched in 69 games in the majors, with a record of 5 wins and 5 losses and ERA of 4.11. Last season, he played for four teams: the Diamondbacks, Mets, Mariners, and Orioles, pitching a total of 29 games and 32 innings for the four teams, with a record of 2 wins and 2 losses and ERA of 3.94.

Looking at footage from his time in the majors, he used sharp slider to get right-handed hitter to swing and miss, and left-handed hitter to swing and miss. Could slider become a weapon?

"Of course, slider is good, but I'm confident in all my pitches, so I don't have one in particular."

In addition to slider, he also throws breaking balls such as two seam fastball change-up and breaking ball. Regarding his pitch style, he analyzed, "I think of myself as an aggressive pitcher who attacks strike zone."

Castillo himself said that he attacks strike zone, and last season in the majors he had a ground ball rate of 55.4%, making him pitcher gets outs by getting batters to hit ground balls. He himself said, "Of course it would be good if they grounded out, but my style is to aim for struck out. I always want to aim for struck out," and he believes in getting outs by struck out.

On February 2nd, the second day of the Miyakonojo camp, he held his first bullpen since coming to Japan, throwing 24 pitches while manager Saburo looked on. After catching pitch, he expressed his gratitude to catcher caught the ball, saying in Japanese, "Thank you very much."

On February 5th, his second bullpen since coming to Japan, he said, "Today's theme was to focus on control and throw strike," and with Toshiya Sato catching the ball, he threw 20 pitches to Misho Nishikawa at bat.

He made his first appearance in a real game on February 19th in a training match against DeNA, pitching one inning without closer runs, and then pitched one inning in a friendly match against the Czech Republic on February 26th, allowing only one runs. He threw 21 pitches in the Czech game, 17 of which were fastballs such as fastball and two seam fastball. I wonder if he has a theme for each day he pitches.

"It was all about control then. My goal was to throw the ball properly into strike zone, so it's not always like that. I was checking with myself as I threw the ball."

I wonder if there are any differences between the Japanese and American balls, mound differences, etc., that you feel from the actual pitching so far.

"Personally, I think the Japanese mound suits me better, and I also think the ball curves more in Japan at the moment, so for now I think the environment in Japan is a better fit for me compared to America."

When asked about the pitches he is getting the feel for, he said, "Right now, I'm throwing some really good two seam fastball and slider pitches. I'd like to continue throwing them at this rate as the season begins," naming two seam fastball and slider.

With less than a month to go until the opening game, "It's already March and exhibition games have begun. Until now, I've been steering towards trying things out in practice games, but now I'd like to shift my focus to movements that I'll use in real games."

Looking ahead to this season, his first since the transfer, he said enthusiastically, "The most important thing is to win games. I think the most important thing is to keep pitching and contribute to the team, so my first priority is to contribute to the team."

Although Lotte had not been able to stick to a fixed win formula until last season, they did not have pitcher who could pitch in winning games throughout the season. In order to win the league championship, it is essential to improve the relief pitching. Castillo will be expected to play a part in that win formula.

(Jose Castillo pitcher = Ricky Santos Takata's interpreter)

Interview and text by Yuta Iwashita