◆Pre-season game Rakuten Eagles 0-1 Lotte (5th, Shizuoka)

Lotte's second-round draft pick, left-handed pitcher Kaito Mori (Meiji University), made his first start in an exhibition game, hit well for three innings, allowing only one strike out, and allowing no runs. He has made great progress toward making the opening rotation.

His favorite ball even went over. The winning shots that finished Gonzalez and Asamura with a swing struck out from the second inning with one out were all two seam fastball. "I felt that if I could throw it low to the ball from strike, I would be able to catch the swing." Although the fastball was in the mid-140 km/h range, he collected it low with two seam fastball and let it hit.

The only hit he allowed with one out in the third inning was to Soyama, a year ahead of him at Meiji University. When his first pitch, a 142 km/h fastball, was hit as line drive to center field, he swung his left arm in frustration. "He swung at the first pitch, so I was like, 'Please wait a little longer.' But it's a competitive world," he recalled with a smile.

This was his third time pitching in an external game, but he produced solid results in his first start. "There's nothing I can say other than it was amazing," said Manager Saburo, who had nothing but praise for his performance. Kojima, Taneichi, Jackson, Tanaka Haru, Long, and Nishino are among the candidates for the starting pitcher, but the manager said, "If they pitch like they did today, I think there's a chance, although there are team circumstances involved." "That's up to the manager and coaches to decide, but I'm going to aim for that. I'm going to produce solid results and be particular about it," said Mori. He's ready to shoot an arrow at the target of the opening rotation.

◆Mohri Kaito: Born September 14, 2003, in Fukuoka Prefecture. 22 years old. At Fukuoka University Ohori, he participated in the Spring Senbatsu Tournament in his third year, contributing to the team's advancement to the quarterfinals as the ace pitcher. At Meiji University, he pitched in 28 games in the Tokyo Big Six League, recording 14 wins and 2 losses ERA 1.46. In his fourth year, he won six games with ERA of 1.34, earning him Best Nine honors. He was also selected for the Samurai Japan University National Team. He was selected second overall by Lotte in the 2013 draft, and joined the team with a signing bonus of 70 million yen and an annual salary of 12 million yen (estimated). He is 177 cm tall and weighs 77 kg. He throws and bats left-handed. number is 13.