"What I need to do hasn't changed, so I think I just need to continue doing what I've always done and get results."

Lotte's Taisei made his professional debut and is currently working hard in the minor leagues, aiming to be promoted back to the first team.

Taisei closer six consecutive runs games from the Hiroshima minor league game on May 29th to Chunichi minor league game on June 24th, and was promoted to the professional team for the first time on July 10th.

On July 11 against the Orix Buffaloes, he made his professional debut in the bottom of the 9th inning with the score 2–8. “I was nervous,” he said. He immediately gave up a doble to leadoff hitter Ryoto Kita, and with two outs, he allowed back-to-back RBI hits to Haruto Watanabe and Ryoma Yamanaka, resulting in a 2 runs.In the ninth inning with the score 2–8, two outs, and a runner on third, he faced Ryu Sugisawa. After a 1-ball, 2-strike count, he recorded his first professional strike out with a 150-kilometer fastball. However, he acknowledged his shortcomings, saying, “It wasn’t good at all, so I think I still have a long way to go,” making for a bittersweet professional debut with a 1-runs performance.

At the farm team, he focused on fork accuracy, saying, "I pitch as a fork pitch, so I want to improve the accuracy of that fork. I think the most important challenge is the accuracy of swinging and missing, getting count, and being able to hit the winning pitch." However, in his professional debut, he focused on pitch mainly with fastball and cutter, and did not throw fork.

"I think I need to work on being able to throw more fork," he said quietly. He explained that he focused on fastball and cutter because they were pitches he could throw with confidence.

"My fastball and fork will be my main pitches, so I want to focus on those." After that, he did not make any appearances in the first team and was removed from the first-team roster on July 16.

◆ Form changes

In the minor league games, since the July 31st game against Yakult Swallows' minor league team, his pitching form, which previously involved his body leaning slightly during translational motion, has now been changed to a more orthodox form.

Even at the start of the season, he was still throwing with an orthodox form, saying, "I haven't consciously changed that much, so the only difference is the angle of my arm, whether my body is leaning or not, so I think that's changed, but other than that, I haven't changed much, so I think it's just a matter of consciousness." This time too, he is feeling good about it, saying, "I've been trying various things and talking with my coaches, and I feel that this form is the best for me, so I can throw most naturally, and it's very easy to throw. It's orthodox, but I'm throwing good pitches. I think that form is good."

Since switching to a more orthodox pitching form, fastball seems to have become stronger. Taisei himself says, "The ball speed itself isn't that high, but I think the quality of the ball has definitely improved compared to my previous form, so I think that's why it looks stronger."

fork, who had been tackling challenges with challenges, also had a low 137 km/h fork on August 8, in the The Giants second team game, retired Lee Dong-hee from 2 struck out strike in the 9th inning with one out and a runner on first in the 9th inning, trailing 0-1. "I think that pitch was good. fork I think it was good because I practice throwing balls," he said, expressing a satisfied expression.

In the Chunichi second-team game on August 5, he threw 7 pitches in 1 inning, with fastball throwing only 2 pitches and fork throwing 5. He pitched fork in the strike zone with count pitches, seemingly having a specific theme in his pitching.

"I change the theme from day to day, so I thought it was important to be able to throw fork into the strike zone while practicing, and I think I threw a lot of them that day," he recalls.

Was it a positive outcome that he was able to get the batter out with fork in strike zone with a small number of pitches?

"That's one of the things I've learned, but if my fork is thrown too easily, it's easy to get hit, so I'm trying to be mindful of that and working hard to come up with my own ideas."

In the game against The Giants' minor league team on August 8th, he said, "It was my first time pitching multiple inning since turning pro, but I used to do it when I was in the corporate league, so it had been a while and I wasn't too tired and was able to pitch two inning properly. I think it's fine." closer two runs innings.

He is currently on a three-game scoreless runs in the minor leagues. "I've been talking with the coaches, and lately I've been focusing solely on getting the batters out. I think the results will naturally follow if I can get the outs. I think my pitches can still get better, and the coaches have told me that I can get even better, so I need to keep working hard to aim higher." He will continue to make an impression in order to return to the first team's mound.

Interview and text by Yuta Iwashita