"I've been working on it step by step in practice, and I was able to put that into practice in the match. I think it went well for me."
Lotte's first-round developmental draft pick, Yuto Nakayama (Mito Keimei High School), made his official regular season debut in a game against Rakuten Eagles 's minor league team on the 5th.
In Rakuten Eagles minor league game that same day, he took mound in the 6th inning with the score 1-6. The first batter, Soshi Yoshino, hit the third pitch after a 2-ball count to left field, but he got the first out by striking out Daichi Suzuki, a former team captain for Lotte and amassing 1612 hit in his major league career, with a 146 km/ fastball on the second pitch after a 1-strike, resulting in a fly ball to left field.
Up to this point, he had faced three batters—Home Run, hit, and Kyosuke Kaneko—and with a 2-0 count, he induced a flyout to shortstop on a 145 km/h pitch fastball. While Shoya Sakagami was at bat, a runner reached second base stolen base, but he struck out Sakagami on a high inside pitch fastball with a 2-0 count strike. In his professional debut, he pitched one inning, throwing 14 pitches, allowing one hit hit,0 BB, and no runs, marking a perfect start.
Nakayama's fastest fastball in high school was 146 km/h, and after turning pro, he recorded a new personal best of 148 km/h in practice. In his appearance that day, he repeatedly threw fastball exceeding 145 km/h. Regarding his speed, he analyzed himself, saying, "I wasn't really paying attention to my ball speed, but I've been able to throw fast without consciously thinking about it, so I think that's a sign of growth."
He said that fastball was "good because I was able to throw it well to both right-handed and left-handed batters," referring to how he struck out the last hitter, Sakagami, with an inside fastball.
Regarding the takeaways and challenges from his debut, he reflected, "Since I got the ball ahead of the leadoff batter, the challenge next is to go strike to lead." Although he looked back and said the ball went to the lead hitter, he seemed to have been able to throw the ball firmly into the zone, but he was not satisfied.
Reflecting on his professional debut, he expressed his enthusiasm for his next appearance, saying, "I want to get ahead in the count with strike and aim for struck out with my favorite pitches." Incidentally, during an interview at his contract signing press conference on November 30th last year, he mentioned his favorite breaking ball as splitter and slider, but currently his favorite pitches are change-up and splitter. He said that the breaking balls he threw in his last appearance were "all change-up."
His classmates, including the 1st pick Genki Ishigaki (Kenta Takasaki High School) and the 3rd pick Raito Okumura (Yokohama High School), have also made their debuts regular season. In the future, we hope that these three, along with Ryo Sakai one year older), Yuto Kimura Oto Hayasaka and Hayasaka Hibiki (two years older), and Haruya Tanaka and Yuto Yoshikawa (three years older), will become key pitcher in energizing The Marines 'pitcher staff. In high school, he achieved perfect game in the summer Ibaraki Prefecture tournament, demonstrating excellent control and a clever pitching style that allows him to vary his timing. Although he is a developmental player, he is one of pitcher with a very promising future.
Interview and text by Yuta Iwashita
