Lotte's Shuta Ishikawa will make his first start of the season in the game against the Softbank Hawks on the 11th.

Since his first promotion of the season on July 16, Shu Ishikawa has appeared in 5 games as a reliever. In an interview on July 23, regarding the reason he hadn't been throwing many cutters, he said, 'I just don't have that luxury. The innings are short, and it's not the time to be throwing cutters. For example, in the second time through the order, I can throw cutters to get a count, but in the first plate appearance, there's no need to go out of my way to throw a low-completion cutter that might end up in a hittable spot.' However, since his promotion to the first team, he has been throwing many cutters, including in his previous appearance against Nippon-Ham on August 28.

"It's not so much about having leeway, but rather a strategic choice; I hope to use the cutter when my fastball starts to feel tired or drops off," he revealed. He further explained, "Basically, I think the cutter is a pitch that hitters dislike if you can throw it at any time, so that's why I'm using it. In short innings, there aren't many opportunities to use it, but if I find myself in a situation where I can afford to, it's a pitch I definitely don't want to eliminate, so I'm making use of it."

On the other hand, I get the impression that he doesn't throw many breaking balls like the fork or change-up, and instead tends to throw more curves after getting ahead in the count. 'I am throwing them, but they just aren't hitting their spots, so I need to make sure I execute them properly. It will get tough if I don't, so I'm continuing to make adjustments to ensure I can throw them for strikes, and I'm handling that well.'

Regarding the curveball, the fifth pitch was excellent—a 128 km/h power curve on the inside that struck out the lead-off batter Ruan Ohtsuka swinging on a 1-ball, 2-strike count in the 7th inning of the Nippon-Ham game on August 28th, when the score was 4-6. Also impressive was the eighth pitch on the same day—an outside power curve that struck out Kotaro Kiyomiya swinging on a 2-ball, 2-strike count with one out and a runner on second in the 7th inning.

Since I have been practicing it, the quality and condition are good, so in my mind, it is my primary finishing pitch. I am preparing so that I can use it at any time while maintaining confidence in it.

I wonder if they are using different balls depending on the day.

I try to throw every pitch as if it were my finishing pitch, but since that doesn't always work out, I'm throwing with the goal of improving the quality of every pitch so that any one of them can become a finishing pitch when needed.

Since being promoted, his appearances have been spaced out, pitching against the Softbank Hawks on July 19, Nippon-Ham on July 31, the Softbank Hawks on August 11, the Rakuten Eagles on August 18, Nippon-Ham on August 28, and making his first start of the season against the Softbank Hawks on September 11. One wonders if there are difficulties in making adjustments with such intervals.

It would be a lie to say there isn't any, but the viewers and the opposing batters don't know about that, so I feel like I just have to do my absolute best within myself.

The final stage of the season will be a hard battle, including a 10-game series starting with the Seibu Lions game on September 25th. 'My condition is much better than last year, and the quality of my balls has improved. If I can translate that into results, my evaluation will rise even further. I am also testing some breaking balls and feel good about them. If the results come along with the data in actual games, I think they will become formidable pitches. I want to demonstrate that, and if I can, I believe my baseball career will last longer. Coaches like Tateyama often tell me that things will work out as long as I throw strikes, so I just need to have confidence and produce results.' Incidentally, the breaking ball he is testing is not a two seam fastball. It is very exciting to see what kind of pitch Shuta Ishikawa will show us in his first start of the season.

Interview and text by Yuta Iwashita