◆Pre-season Rakuten Eagles and Nippon-Ham (11th, Shizuoka)

Draft pick number one, right-handed pitcher Sota Fujiwara (Hanazono University), who started in the exhibition game against Nippon-Ham pitched five innings, allowing only two hit and no runs, showing a strong performance.

He walked Isobata with one out in the first inning, and then walked Mizuno, the leadoff batter, in the third inning, giving up three Walk in total. He reflected, "There were a lot of balls on the first pitch, and if I keep giving up walks to walk batter or fast runner, I think I'm just making the situation worse, so I have a lot to reflect on."

Fifteen years have passed since the Great East Japan Earthquake, and he reflected, "I'm grateful to be able to baseball to my heart's content, and I want to cherish each and every day from now on. I think the team's goal is to win the league and become the best in Japan, so I'll do my best to be a part of that."

He has started two games in the open game so far. He threw a total of 4 innings and closer runs, but this day was 5 inning longer than before. "I think it's also my strength to be able to throw long inning at high power, and I think I was able to throw with good output without changing anything from the first inning." Last season, Pacific League was involved in the championship race against Nippon-Ham opponent closer runs "I want to pitch better and give a bad impression that Fujii is the one when I hit it during the season."