Lotte's Fumiya Ono started the season in the minor leagues, but after being promoted to the first team on April 26th, he has been supporting bullpen with his powerful fastball.

Determined to make last season a make-or-break year, he bullpen in the first team for the entire season, appearing in 47 games with a record of 2 wins, 2 losses, 10 hold, and ERA of 2.59, making it a year that marked his comeback.

As usual in preparation for this season, he said, “It’s nothing but running,” and focused on building up his stamina to get his body in shape for the entire year-long season.At the Miyakonojo Spring Training Camp, he made the bullpen list for two consecutive days starting on the first day. During live batting practice on February 11, he threw 20 pitches (5 pitches per at-bat) to Koshiro Wada and Naonori Yasuda, limiting hit hits to just one closer. Shota Ueda, who caught Ono’s pitches, saidreflected on the performance, saying, “I think it went well. I think he had good control, and slider is his strength, so breaking ball. He was able to get swings and misses on the inside corner against left-handed batters, so I think it went well.”

Ono, who expressed his enthusiasm for the upcoming practice games and exhibition games, saying, "I think I need to make a good impression, and although I don't know what will happen once the games start, I want to do my best to produce solid results," pitched seven innings in seven practice games and exhibition games, including his first appearance in a real game on February 15 against Yakult, where closer runs for one inning. He had ERA 2.57, but after his last appearance in the first team was against Hanshin Tigers on March 18, where he runs one run in one inning, he did not pitch in the first team again and started the season in the farm league for the first time in two years.

He pitched in eight games in the minor leagues and was promoted to the first team for the first time this season on April 26. He made his first appearance of the season on May 1 against Seibu Lions, pitching two innings and allowing one runs. From the next game against Orix Buffaloes on May 5 to the game against Hanshin Tigers on May 29, closer runs for nine consecutive games.

In the Softbank Hawks game on May 10, with two outs and a runner on first in the sixth inning with a 2-5 tie, he threw a 151 km/h fastball on the second pitch to get Yudai Shoji out of 1 strike, and the third pitch on the inside pitch 153 km/h fastball that was struck out a missed out. On May 13, he closer the Nippon-Ham with no runs in the first inning. In the game, 10 out of 12 pitches were fastball power pitches.

Regarding fastball in a June 12 interview, he said, "He's throwing well, so I think this is good," and continued to throw powerful fastball. On June 28, in a game Softbank Hawks, he lost Kensuke Kondo with one out and runner in the 11th inning at 3-3, strike 3-3 struck out The 154 km/h fastball on the ninth pitch was fantastic.

slider, one of his weapons, said, "I'm just swinging my arm as usual, so I think my balance is gradually improving." On May 16, in a game against Orix Buffaloes, with two outs and a runner on first in the 6th inning with a 0-0 score, he retired Kenya Wakatsuki with one ball and two strike swinging struck out, drop slider ping 135 km/h vertically. In the The Giants game on June 7, he had a good slider that dropped 138 km/h in the 11th inning against the leadoff Cabbage in the 11th inning with a 2-2 strike and a struck out swing.

change-up He also noted, “Since it’s a pitch that breaks away from the batter’s left side, if there’s a ‘change-up,’ the ‘slider’ also becomes effective.” In the June 7 game against the The Giants, with the score tied 2–2 in the 11th inning with one out and no runner, he induced a swing-and-miss from Reito Nakayama on the second pitch—an outside 142-kilometer-per-hour fastball change-up—after a 1 strike. The pitch had good break.

What caught my attention was that he’s also been throwing pitches approaching 150キロ this year: change-up. In the May 29 game against the Hanshin Tigers, with the score 0–1 in the 7th inning with one out and a runner on second, he faced Torai Fushimi with a 2-ball, 2-strike count and struck him out on the fifth pitch—a 148キロ inside pitch sinker—change-up, causing him to swing and miss struck out.

When asked about it, Ono muttered, "That was fork. I thought about throwing fork again." Ono had been throwing fork in 2024 before his right elbow surgery, but in an interview at the Ishigaki Island spring training camp on February 5, 2025, he said, "I won't be throwing (fork) anymore, probably."

When asked why he decided to start throwing fork again, he explained, "It worked well when I threw it in the minor leagues, so I'm continuing to throw it. change-up is around 140 km/h, so I'm throwing it with the feeling that it would be good if I could get it in the high 140s."

He occasionally threw curveballs during live batting practice, practice games, and exhibition games at spring training, but he hasn't thrown them much since the season started, explaining that "it was just to get my balance right, so I didn't throw them very often."

◆Spanning inning

This season, he has not only pitched one inning, but has also frequently pitched in relief across inning, as seen in the game against Softbank Hawks on June 28th. In the game Seibu Lions on May 1st, he pitched two innings and allowed one runs, but in the games against Hanshin Tigers on May 29th, The Giants on June 6th, and Softbank Hawks on June 28th, closer two runs innings.

Notably, in the game against The Giants on June 6, he pitched in the 10th inning with the score tied 1-1. In the 10th inning of the first inning, he flied out Shunsuke Urata on the first pitch at 153 km/h on a fastball to left, followed by Shunsuke Sasaki flying out to center on the fork of the second pitch from 1 strike, and swinging Cabbage from 1 ball, 2 strike to 140 km/h slider struck out He retired and finished with just seven pitches. In the 11th inning in the second inning, the three of them safely grounded out Takuzo Oshiro to second, Tsuyoshi Matsumoto grounded out to shortstop, and Tima flew out to second, throwing 16 pitches in 2 innings and closer a perfect performance.

Regarding pitching across inning, Ono said, "It's happened quite a lot this year, so I'm not really worried about it. I just focus on pitching well, one inning inning a time," concentrating on hitter in front of him.

"I just want to pitch well wherever I'm asked to, so I'll continue to pitch well wherever I'm told," he said confidently. "I want to pitch in a way that can bring momentum to the team," he declared with determination. Although the games are mostly tied or behind, we must not forget that Ono is behind the stability of the relief pitching staff.

Interview and text by Yuta Iwashita