Softbank Hawks pitcher Taiga Kamichatani will be aiming to slash The Giants batting lineup with his "cat fork" on the 9th. On this day, he practiced pitcher at Mizuho PayPay Dome. He worked out in the morning in preparation for The Giants game on the 10th (Ube).

Uechatani, who is scheduled to pitch as reliever relief pitcher in the game against The Giants, said, "I don't have any pitches that can get batters to strike out, so I'm currently training hard with Uesawa-san, who is teaching me how to throw fork. I'm hoping to be able to throw a good fork." He plans to try out a new pitch that he has been improving.

That fork. Although it is a pitch he has always thrown, he expressed his desire to further improve it, saying, "I think the precision of each ball is important, so I want to keep that in mind while also trying to get some strikeouts with fork." Uesawa, who played catch with him that day, is also improving his pitch this season. After discussing it, they arrived at the image of a "cat."

"Uesawa told me to act like a cat," said Uechatani. "My wrist stands up when I release the ball. If I do that, the ball never drops," he said, imagining the paw of a cat and throwing without his wrist pointing up. "At first it was no good at all, but little by little I feel like it's starting to improve," he said, feeling satisfied. He plans to refine it into a powerful weapon while observing hitter 's reactions in actual games.