"I want to hit a straight ball."

In an interview after pre-game practice on June 11, Lotte's Raito Ikeda made the following statement. Although he was unable to get hit fastball in the game against Chunichi that same day, he did manage to hit a "fastball" to right hit for a hit in the game against Rakuten Eagles on the 19th.

On the 19th, the Narashino High School brass band, from which Ikeda is from, came to the game. Ikeda showed off his impressive skills in front of his juniors. Ikeda, who entered the game as a substitute in the 8th defense, came to bat for the first time in the 8th inning with no outs and no runner on base, hitting a 148 km/h fastball, the third pitch thrown by Katsutoshi Tai with a 1-ball, 1-strike, to right field.

This season, Ikeda has been incredibly strong in his first at-bats, as he tries to hit every ball that comes his way with a clear mind. With this hit, hit in his first at-bats is now .385 (5 hits out of 13).

Although his number of at-bats has been limited recently, he has been consistently getting hit. When asked about the reason for this, he explained, "I think the fact that I'm able to swing the bat is what's resulting in hits. When I'm at bat and watching the ball, I realize that I won't know the outcome until I swing, so I'm conscious of that."

◆ How to deal with fastball

However, he wasn't satisfied with the fact that he hadn't quite grasped the "fastball" hit.

Last season, his focus on “doble” and “line drive-性 hits” paid off, and as he continued to work toward this season without changing his approach, during the June 10 game against the Chunichi,in the game against the on June 10, with the score 1–11 in the 7th inning with one out and runner, Yorinosuke Sakurai’s first at-bat—with no runners on base—was a highlight. He hit the second pitch change-up thrown by strike to left field doble.

Ikeda himself commented, "I haven't been able to hit straight shots recently, so I'm not really satisfied. I think things will start to look better if I can hit some more solid extra-base hits."

Furthermore, when told that his first at-bat in the 7th inning of the May 26th game against Hiroshima, with runner 0-1 and one out with no runners on base, was a good one, he hit doble that hit the left wall fence off the third pitch, a two-seam two seam fastball thrown by Hiroki Tokoda after a 2-ball count. Ikeda revealed his frustration, saying, "I feel like I'm able to hit the ball more on the left side than on the right, but that was breaking ball, so I'm not hitting the fastballs well at all." Nevertheless, he remained positive, saying, "I'm just hitting a lot of foul balls, so I want to somehow hit a fastball for a hit. I just want to hit a strong ball, no matter what it is."

He had been struggling to hit fastball, but hit managed to hit fastball for a single in front of his younger teammates. Hopefully, this hit will be hit for him to consistently get fastball straight pitches. What's left is a hit with runners in scoring position. When he hadn't gotten hit right after the season started, he said, "I think things will change once I get one, but until I get one, I'm thinking about a lot of things." After he got his first hit, he continued to get hits. "My batting average with runners in scoring position isn't high, so that's something I need to work on. When there are no runners, I'm conscious of getting on home base scoring." If he can get hit with runners in scoring position, his hitting in clutch situations should also improve. He's had a clear idea of what he needs to do and his direction since last year, and he wants to continue to contribute to the team with hits whenever he gets the opportunity to play.

Interview and text by Yuta Iwashita