Lotte's Shunsuke Nakamori reached 40 appearances this season in the game against the Rakuten Eagles on the 29th.

Coming on to pitch in the 7th inning with a 5-3 lead, he got the leadoff hitter Akira Shigenaga to ground out to short on a 153 km/h fastball on the second pitch after a 1-strike count, then retired Fumiya Kurokawa on a short stop grounder with a 137 km/h fork on the fifth pitch after a 2-ball, 2-strike count for two outs. Finally, he got Ryuya Taira to ground out to second on a 153 km/h fastball on the fourth pitch after a 1-ball, 2-strike count, retiring the side in order to complete a clean inning.

◆ fastball, fork, slider

Looking at Nakamori's pitches since the beginning of September, his fastballs have been limited: in the game against the Rakuten Eagles on the 9th, he threw 5 pitches in one inning with zero fastballs; in the game against the Softbank Hawks on the 13th, he threw 17 pitches in one inning with 5 fastballs; and in the game against Nippon-Ham on September 15th, he threw 22 pitches in one inning with 9 fastballs.

Under those circumstances, in the Orix Buffaloes game on the 22nd, 18 out of 27 pitches in one inning were fastballs. In the 7th inning with one out and runners on first and second while trailing 3-4, he threw a foul on the 4th pitch to Ryo Ota after a 1 ball, 2 strike count. Then, in the 7th inning with two outs and a runner on second while trailing 3-6, his 2nd pitch to Kotaro Kobayashi was a ball after a 1 ball count, but it clocked in at 155 km/h, tying his personal best.

Although he threw many fastballs in the game against the Orix Buffaloes, he stated, "Right now, the theme is output," and regarding the fastballs, he revealed, "The speed of my fastball has increased, but conversely, my control has been poor lately. I think my command, or rather the adaptability and responsiveness I mentioned before, is still not quite there."

In the game against the Orix Buffaloes on the same day, with one out and runners on first and second in the 7th inning trailing 3-4, he struck out Ota swinging on a 138 km/h inside sinker-type pitch on a full count of 3 balls and 2 strikes. Looking back, he said, 'It went to a good spot, but I was constantly putting myself in bad counts during that game. I think that is an issue to address.'

In the game against the Seibu Lions on September 25, with a 4-2 lead and two outs in the eighth inning with a runner on second, the second pitch thrown to Nevin—an inside 135 km/h fork that resulted in a swinging strike—was excellent. Reflecting on the performance, he said, 'That one was good, but for the next pitch, I intended to throw it toward the base but it ended up in the strike zone. I need to minimize mistakes as much as possible and focus on pitch location. Speed is important, but ultimately control is everything, so I want to work while using my head a bit more.' As he noted, the fork that resulted in a called struck out after two strikes was a 134 km/h pitch in the strike zone.

slider was good on September 13 in Game Softbank Hawks, in the 7th inning with one out and a runner on second (4-7), he got Hotaka Yamakawa swinging from 3-ball, 2-strike on a swing struck out on the sixth pitch, which dropped 128 km/h vert slider ically. "slider doesn't really feel good either," he said quietly. On September 22, in the game against Orix Buffaloes, with two outs and runners on first and second in the 7th inning with three ties, he gave up a two-run doble that was rebounded by a 132 km/h slider thrown to Yuma Mune, but he mentioned his challenges, saying, "The pitches hit slider are high, so I want to be careful and pitch accordingly."

It appears that he is distinguishing between a slider that drops vertically and a slider thrown to the outside corner for a left-handed hitter, but according to Nakamori himself, he explained, 'I don't really distinguish between them. Since it's originally a vertical-leaning slurve, it's a pitch type that breaks diagonally.'

Nakamori's strike out rate this season is 8.01, but it has risen to 11.25 in September. "Recently, over the last month or so, I decided to try raising my arm angle. Since I am originally a fork baller, I've started to get more struck out by being able to get swings and misses there. Because I changed my form a bit, or rather changed the angle, there is some inconsistency in both my breaking ball and my fastball, so that is something to practice."

Just like the fastball mentioned in the previous interview, is he planning to re-examine the inconsistencies during the period after the season ends?

I want to constantly re-examine my form and reduce my pitch count as much as possible. During the off-season, I want to focus on physical training and technical drills, so I plan to rest my shoulder as much as I can while still training thoroughly.

As I go about my daily life, I am keeping in the back of my mind how I will approach my training after this season's battles are over. I have updated my career highs in many categories, such as appearances, wins, and holds, and I want to fight through to the end with the first team before heading into the off-season.

Interview and text by Yuta Iwashita