Masahiro Tanaka, who returned to professional baseball Rakuten from the major leagues for the first time in eight years, practiced pitching with a bullpen for the fifth time at the Okinawa camp in preparation for the first pitching in the actual game on the 20th of this month.
Pitcher Tanaka, who joined the 1st Army camp in Kin Town, Okinawa Prefecture on the 6th of this month, is scheduled to go up to the mound of the actual battle for the first time this season in the practice game with Nippon Ham on the 20th of this month.
On the 17th, three days before the pitching, I entered the bullpen for the fifth time in this camp, and as before, I had Shinichiro Koyama, the pitcher coach of the 1st Army, stand alternately in the left and right batter's boxes and practice pitching. ..
Then, at the end of the practice, he pitched more practically, assuming a count, earning a count with a two-seam from one-ball one-strike to the in-course, and throwing a sharply falling split low after driving.
The number of balls was 36, which was the smallest so far, but the pitching practice aimed at each ball showed a high level.
Coach Koyama said, "I think it's going well. There are some parts that I'm not convinced of, such as the strength of the straight, so I think they will fix it in the actual battle."