Lotte's fourth-round draft pick, Yuya Sakurai (Shohei High School), is currently gaining practical experience in the minor leagues in order to win the "Home Run king" title, which is his goal for the future.

Sakurai made his debut in an external game with the first team on February 25th in the Kyushun Miyazaki Baseball Games 2026 against Orix Buffaloes, and the following day, on the 26th, starting line-up as the "number 2 batter and third baseman" in a friendly match against the Czech Republic national team. In his third at-bat in the third inning with two outs and runners on second and third base, with the score 7-3, he hit a 113 km/ change-up, the second pitch thrown by Satria after one strike, for a two-run doble that hit the left wall fence, and had a great game with 3 hit and 5 RBI.

Since the start of the farm league season, Sakurai made his first starting line-up and appearance in a farm team regular season on March 14th against Nippon-Ham Fighters' farm team, playing as the cleanup hitter and third baseman. In his fourth at-bat in the 8th inning with one out and runners on second and third base, he connected with a 135 km/h fork thrown by Sorato Kawakatsu on a 2-strike, hitting a two-run doble to left-center field. This marked Sakurai's first hit and first RBI in a farm team regular season.

In a game against Rakuten Eagles 's minor league team on March 18, he recorded his first multi-hit as a professional, and in the three-game series against Oisix on March 27, he recorded his first multi-hit game on the 27th, hitting a .545 batting average (6 out of 11). He has batted batting order in all nine games so far.

"I'm not batting fourth because I've produced results. It's difficult, but I hope to be able to bat fourth in the future, so I hope I can produce results in that position." He has currently recorded hit in five consecutive games where he has started starting line-up cleanup hitter.

While facing professional pitcher, he said, "I can feel the high level of competition. The speed, the quality of breaking ball, the level of pitcher." He has personally experienced the high level of competition in professional baseball.

When preparing for farm team games, are there any specific things you focus on in your preparations?

"It's the same with defense; a lot of issues arise during a match, so we take it one game at a time. We address those issues, and then when new issues arise, we tackle those as well."

Of course, he also expressed his enthusiasm for Home Run, saying, "That hasn't changed. I'm still a rookie, so I want to get used to the ball first and then start hitting home run properly."

Not only hitting, but also on the base running side, he boldly touched up from first base to second base on a fly out behind center fielder the pitcher's Raito Ikeda on a 10-4 fifth-inning groundout in a friendly game against the Czech national team on February 26. I'll do anything that leads to the team's win success, so that's what I'm conscious of," he said emphatically.

This is the stage where he experiences success and failure in actual games, uses those experiences to fuel his growth. "First of all, I'm starting with the goal of not getting injured, so I also want to hit home run, and since there are many things I'm doing for the first time, I want to get used to them while also producing results." The right-handed slugger, who is expected to become a long-ball hitter in the future, is climbing the ladder one step at a time.

Interview and text by Yuta Iwashita