"I think he's getting used to the professional environment, since he managed closer to zero last time."

Lotte's Genki Ishigaki made his regular season debut on April 11 against Nippon-Ham minor league team, and has since appeared in three games in the farm league.

In his last start on April 28 against Softbank Hawks, fastball was very powerful, including the first fastball he threw to Osuna in the 7th inning with two outs and a runner on second base, resulting in a called strikeout. "It's the pitch I've been working on the most, and it's the one I'm most confident in. I build my pitching strategy around it."

After pitching in three games, does he feel like fastball is effective?

"The hits we've given up are mostly to the opposite field, and I don't think there have been many hits that were truly connected, so that's proof that we're able to overpower them, but it also means there are still areas where we need to improve, and I want to work on those areas to get the hang of it."

When asked about what he felt was lacking, Genki Ishigaki said, "I've gotten a lot more sharpness and power out of my pitches, so the only thing left is the speed, which is around 156. I think I can increase it a bit more, so that's it." It seems he's still not satisfied with the speed of fastball.

splitter is better for breaking ball. In his first professional strike out, he also took a swing struck out from Arizono with a 137 kg splitter in the first 0-0 no-death bases loaded in the Nippon-Ham second team match on April 11th. 4/18 Yakult 2nd team game, 2-2 6th inning with 2 outs and 1st base, Sota Takano from 1 ball 2 strike to the struck out 4th pitch 134 kg splitter, 4/28 Softbank Hawks 2nd team game, 1-0 7th inning with one out and 2nd base Hirose 142 kg sinker system splitter, 138 kg splitter that I drove in and finished with a struck out swing, was good.

According to Ishigaki Moto, the first pitch he threw to Hirose was an inside sinker type splitter, and he said, "The first pitch wasn't splitter, it was cutter that slipped out." He calmly analyzed his own performance, saying, "But I was able to get a swing and a miss, so that was good, and splitter is the pitch I'm most confident in after my fastball, so I was able to use it to differentiate my pitches, get ahead in count, and get struck out, so I'm throwing it with confidence."

Looking at the three games he has pitched so far, he has been able to strike out at breaking ball. fastball I think I've proven that I'm not only straight," he said, "but I'd like to become more pitcher straight and closer able.

"I think the most important thing is not to rush things, so I want to get solid results in the minor leagues and work hard so that I can pitch on the major league stage." He is steadily climbing the ladder one step at a time to get to the major league mound.

Interview and text by Yuta Iwashita