[Maishima Heroes]

[Maishima Heroes] brings you the latest from Maishima, the team's facility in Konohana Ward, Osaka City, where young players who will carry the future of Orix Buffaloes are training. The first installment features outfielder Haruto Mikata.

Orix Buffaloes s first-round draft pick in the developmental draft, Yoto Mikata outfielder, continues his appeal for dominance by playing at full strength, taking the advice of his college coach and Koshien legend.

Mikata hails from Yabu City, Hyogo Prefecture. He played for Soshi Gakuen High School (Okayama), Komazawa University, and the BC League Tochigi Golden Braves before joining Orix Buffaloes as the first overall pick in the 2025 developmental draft. In high school, he was a hard-throwing right-handed pitcher with a top speed of 146 km/h, and was the runner-up in the Okayama Prefecture's unique tournament. After the fall league in his second year at Komazawa University, he switched to playing as hitter. His powerful hitting, utilizing his impressive 190 cm, 97 kg physique, is his selling point. In Tochigi, he was entrusted with a key role from his first year, playing in 49 games as outfielder and recording a batting average of .286, 33 RBI, and 5 Home Run.

He is a self-proclaimed and widely recognized power hitter. He hit home runs one after another during batting practice at the rookie joint training camp immediately after moving into the dorms. His physique is similar to that of outfielder Yutaro Sugimoto, who is 190 cm tall and weighs 104 kg and won home run in 2021 with 32 Home Run, so he is highly regarded by fans as the "next Raoh."

What truly astonished team officials was his performance in a World Baseball Classic (WBC) exhibition game against the Czech Republic held in Miyazaki City. He came in as a pinch hitter and went 2 hit 2 with 2 RBI. In his first at-At Bat, he hit infield hit that struck pitcher, and in the 6th inning with one out and a runner on first, he hit a powerful two-run homer to left field off right-handed pitcher Ondjay Bank.

"It was the third pitch after a 1-1 count, a two-seam two seam fastball near the middle of the plate. I was looking for fastball, but I reacted well," he said, praising himself. He has been hitting balls that easily wall the fence during the rookie joint training camp and spring training, and he has set his sights on becoming the next Raoh, saying, "I'm confident in my batting. I'm nowhere near his level, but I want to become a home run hitter like Sugimoto-san." Hitting coach Masakazu Fukukawa, who mainly coaches the second team, has such high expectations for him that he has given him "instructions" to "not hit ground balls (to make the most of your strengths) (laughs)."

For these three players, what they focus on even more than hitting is playing with all their might. In practice, they always lead the younger rookie players and never miss a moment of sprinting at full speed. There is an unforgettable incident. In a practice game in June of his third year at Komazawa University, when he had switched to playing in fielder, Coach Yuya Hayashi pointed out his base base running when he got hit. He was not aware that he had been slacking off, so the criticism came as a surprise. He was also confident that his hitting was going well despite having just switched to playing as hitter. However, he was told about the importance of seeing things through to the end, and although it took time, he realized that he had been pointed out for the complacency lurking somewhere in his heart.

Coach Hayashi was the captain when Komadai Tomakomai High School (Hokkaido) won Koshien consecutive championships in the summers of 2004 and 2005; in the summer of his second year, he recorded the fifth cycle hit in tournament history from Hideaki Wakui pitcher (Chunichi) against Yokohama High; in the summer of his third year, he was the first hitter Home Run strong hitter player to lead the team against Naruto Technical School, and became Komadai's coach in January 2019 after working for Komadai and Toshiba. Hayashi-san is a Koshien legend. From his point of view, I think it was a distracting play. He talked to me for a long time and made me realize that I couldn't go on like this. After that, I vowed never to let my guard down. I am grateful to them for giving me the opportunity to change. What I was trained to do in college will definitely be important in the pros as well. I am going to keep this in mind. With his original point in mind, he will play with all his might to win the top position.

Interview and text by Masaki Kitano