Lotte's Shuta Takano, who pitched in 37 games last season, recording 15 hold and an ERA of 1.84, showed outstanding stability. So far, he has pitched in five external games, pitching six inning, hit six hits, striking out six strike out, and closer no runs.

Regarding the off-season leading up to this season, he revealed, "I was in good shape all last year, so I've been working on maintaining that shape, but I've also been working on throwing with a leaning back, which is something that's only possible when you release abdominal pressure, but now I'm leaning back while increasing abdominal pressure.In order to get the feeling of being able to exert power even while leaning back, I've been doing things like Pilates and focusing on moving while increasing abdominal pressure."

He served as a reliever last season, but was preparing to become a starter before the season began. This offseason, he said, "I'm prepared to do either. I'm known as a reliever, but last year that changed too, so I'm trying to be prepared to do either." He has been preparing to be able to pitch either as a starter or reliever.

He also appeared in many events during the off-season, but he was able to maintain the same amount of practice, saying, "I practiced during the day and participated in events at night, so I was able to keep the same amount of practice."

After the Miyakonojo spring training camp began on February 1st, he immediately entered bullpen on the first day and made his first appearance in a live BP on February 10th. He threw a total of 20 pitches against Shogo Nakamura and Shota Ueda, closer the number of hit hits to two.

He made his first appearance in an external game this season in a practice match against Yakult on February 15th. What caught my attention was the game Orix Buffaloes on February 25th. In the fourth inning of that game, he continued to throw low fork to Ryo Ota, but he was able to see through them. I wonder if he feels that opposing hitter are reacting differently to fork compared to last year.

"I don't feel like I'm taking any countermeasures, and I'm still trying to figure out my own pitching feel, so I'm just missing the ball and swinging away, so I don't feel like it's not working at all."

In the open game against Rakuten Eagles on March 5th, the fork of the third pitch on the third pitch, which finished the lead Hideto Asamura from 2 strike with a swing struck out in the 5th inning with a score of 1-0, was good.

"It was a big deal that I was able to closer a great batter like Asamura on struck out pitches," he recalled, adding, "Even though I was pitching a series fork, I was able to get a strikeout from a batter who was responding to my approach with two strike, so I think it would have been fine even if it wasn't Asamura."

Pacific League When facing the team, as before last season, pitch centered on fastball and fork. The third pitch, slider, is also thrown in external games, but when facing Pacific League teams for the season, do you intentionally avoid throwing it?

"That's not the case. I fought all last year with my fastball and fork, but if I don't perform as well as I did last year, I won't even be able to get into the ring. First of all, if I can't do that properly, I won't be able to move on to the next step, which is the curveball. I'm conscious of whether that will work. I'm focusing on that more than just practicing my curveball."

Regarding slider and curveball, he said, "They're not bad, but my pitching style has been straight pitches and fork, and since this is just practice, I haven't been able to throw them very often.As I start playing games from now on, I'd like to be able to practice a little more."

I wonder if I've been able to do what I want to do and try so far.

"My fastball and fork are in good shape, just like last year, and as I throw those two, I'm able to keep a close eye on the batter's reactions. I haven't practiced my other curveballs as much, but I've been able to do them, so I think my adjustments are going well."

Looking ahead to the opening game, he said enthusiastically, "I'm not doing too badly right now, so I want to keep going without losing this. I'm just going to do my best so that I can pitch well in the opening game of the first team." His preparations for a second consecutive year are steadily progressing.

Interview and text by Yuta Iwashita