"I'm able to play straight, so I think I'm able to show what I've been practicing."

Lotte's Naonori Yasuda was promoted to the first team for the first time this season on May 30th, and he reflected on his first month with the team as follows.

Yasuda played in 93 games, surpassing his 55 games in 2024, but his batting average of .243, .25 RBI, and Home Run were not the second consecutive year. At a press conference after contract negotiations on December 12 last year, he said, "At the start of the season, I was able to get Walk, but if I can't hit home run, they'll come to the strike zone, so I guess I have to get Walk in the ball zone. I think I need to get a hitter that makes the battery feel intimidated. Saburo also set goals of one hit and one Walk per day, but I couldn't put them into practice, so hitting alone doesn't lead to Walk. I want to work hard so I can hit big hits one more time," he said, emphasizing the importance of extra-base hitting.

Last January, he said, "I talked with the batting coach and analysts about the direction we should take, and I realized that I needed to take my time to work on it, so this year (2025) I did my training alone." However, this January, he said, "I did it for two years and didn't get the results I wanted, so I thought I needed to change something and asked Yanagida-san, and he said he'd like to train together again, so I did." He trained with Softbank Hawks 's Yuki Yanagita and others.

"I learned a lot, and I was able to work alongside players of the same generation like Kiyomiya and Kajiwara, so I was inspired by them and thought I wouldn't be left behind," he said, describing it as a fruitful experience.

During contract negotiations, he said, "I need to become hitter that pitchers and catchers fear," and looking ahead to this season, he expressed his determination, saying, "I think I won't be seen as a scary hitter unless I hit a lot of powerful line drives, so I want to work hard to increase home run and extra-base hits."

When asked at the Miyakonojo spring training camp whether "extra-base hits" meant increasing the number of doble or Home Run, he emphasized, "Until last year, I thought doble were enough, but that didn't result in home run, so now I'm consciously working on hitting home run runs."

When asked further whether he would aim for "home run" rather than "averages," Yasuda replied, "Yes, that's right."

Yasuda's clutch performance is one of his strengths. "It's similar to what I said before, but I think my clutch performance won't come out unless I can make the opposing battery fear me, so I want to steadily increase RBI and work hard to raise my overall level."

During the spring training camp in Miyakonojo in February, he focused intensely on his batting practice, and expressed his determination for the practice games and exhibition games, saying, "I think hitting is really important, so I want to get results, and since there are a lot of rivals, I want to do my best to beat them." However, he played in 8 games, but failed to make a significant impression with a batting average of .200 and RBI, and his last appearance in a first-team game was a practice game against Lotte of Korea on March 1st.

Yasuda started the starting line-up in the minor leagues, where high school rookie Yuya Sakurai was the starting third baseman, Yasuda's natural position. Yasuda only had one at-bat in each game, either as first baseman hitter or defense substitute, and he wasn't getting the four at-bats he had in previous seasons.

He said, "I was preparing to get good results and make it to the first team," and added that he had a specific goal in mind when he stepped up to the plate: "I was working on hitting fastball hard."

On farm team practice days, he would loudly cheer during fielding practice, shouting things like, "Go, Yuya!", "Go-san, that's soft!", "Yuu-san!", and "Good reaction!". With more players younger than Yasuda now on the team, perhaps he wanted to set an example for the younger players through his attitude.

"It's not like that, but it's something I've been doing for a long time, so I'm just continuing to do it."

He played in 44 games in the farm league, batting .299 with 1 Home Run and 7 RBI, and was promoted to the first team on May 30. In the game Hanshin Tigers that same day, he started as the 7th batter and third baseman, and in his first at-bat of the season in the 2nd inning with two outs and no runner on starting line-up, he swung at fastball thrown by Shoki Murakami on a 1-strike and said, "I stepped up to the plate with no thought in my mind. I'm glad I got the best result in my first at-bat," as he sent the ball soaring over the center field wall, his first home run in regular season since October 10, 2023, against Rakuten Eagles.

In the game The Giants on June 7, he said, "There were two runner at the end, so I just went for it, and I'm glad it turned out well. The feeling when I hit it was perfect." In his first at-bat in the bottom of the ninth inning with two outs and no runners on base, with the score 1-2, he hit his second home run of the season, a 155 km/h fastball thrown by Martinez on the third pitch of the at-bat, into the right field stands.

When he steps up to the plate, does he aim for a home home run in every at-bat? "Not quite to that extent, but I try to keep my contact point firmly in front of me."

This year, Yasuda has been able to hit fastball exceeding 150 km/h, as evidenced by Home Run run off Martinez's fastball. "That's something we've been working on since the minor leagues, so I'm glad that it's finally paying off."

He’s been aggressively swinging at early pitches count. In the game against Softbank Hawks on the 3rd, with the score tied 1–1 in the fourth inning with two outs runner and no runners on base, he stepped up to the plate for his second at-bat and hit the first pitch splitter thrown by Stewart Jr. into right-center field doble. “I want to increase my extra-base hits there, so I’m swinging as hard as I can at early pitches count more often,” he revealed.

Last year, his theme was one hit and one Walk per day, but this season he is focused solely on "results," saying, "I want to get results in every game I play in, and I will be very conscious of that in order to be in starting line-up. I will do my best to contribute with my batting."

Interview and text by Yuta Iwashita