On September 7th, Ryota Igarashi and Sho Nakata appeared on the Persol Pacific League TV official YouTube channel's "Monday Pa-Tele Iki" and spoke about Chiba Lotte Marines pitcher Yuki Karakawa, who announced his retirement at the end of this season on the 4th.
During his high school days, Nakata was referred to as one of the "High School Big 3" along with pitcher Yuki Karakawa and Yoshinori Sato. In the 2007 draft meeting, all three received first-round picks from multiple clubs, attracting significant attention.
When asked about the time he joined the league, Nakata expressed his gratitude first, saying, "Before I moved up to the first team, the two of them were already pitching and performing well up there. I felt envious, but it also fostered a feeling of wanting to get to the first team quickly, so I am very grateful to both of them." He also revealed that he contacted pitcher Yuki Karakawa directly after hearing the retirement announcement.
Regarding his matchups with pitcher Yuki Karakawa, Nakata looked back and said, "I don't have much memory of hitting against him" (actual matchup stats: 16 hits in 78 At Bats, .205 batting average, 4 Home Runs, 19 struck out). When footage of past matchups was shown, there was a scene of Nakata looking frustrated with his hands on his knees after failing to swing at pitcher Yuki Karakawa's fastball in a two-out bases loaded situation. He commented, "I look really frustrated there!" drawing laughter.
Furthermore, regarding pitcher Yuki Karakawa's pitch form, Igarashi analyzed, "Because the release point is quite far forward and low, it looks like the ball is rising up," to which Nakata nodded in agreement, saying, "It has that image of stretching towards you." He praised the pitching technique, saying, "He holds onto the ball well."
LIVE Streaming Program "Monday Pa-Tele Iki"
・Streaming Date: Every Monday from 21:00 (Scheduled to stream until October during the season)
・Streaming Platform: Persol Pacific League TV official YouTube channel
・Performers: A duo of former professional baseball players appearing on a weekly rotation
(Ryota Igarashi & Sho Nakata / Ginji & Yuji Kaneko / G.G. Sato & T-Okada / Motonobu Tanishige & Tomoya Satozaki)
Next week on Monday the 14th, Ginji and Yuji Kaneko are scheduled to appear, with Takayuki Kajitani as a guest. Don't miss it!
