Masahiro Tanaka, who has returned to professional baseball Rakuten from the major leagues, has recovered from an injury to his right foot and will stand on the Japanese mound for the first time in eight years in the match against Nippon-Ham Fighters on the 17th of this month.
This was revealed to the press by Rakuten coach Kazuhisa Ishii on the 14th, saying, "I'm doing well so far, so I'll throw it on the 17th if I keep going."
The number of balls and the number of pitches will be decided while looking at future adjustments.
Pitcher Tanaka was scheduled to start in the second game of the opening on the 27th of last month, but he avoided pitching due to an injury to the soleus muscle of his right calf and continued to make adjustments.
After that, he was able to throw nearly 100 balls with a bullpen, and he recovered steadily from the injury, and will start in the match against Nippon-Ham Fighters at Tokyo Dome on the 17th of this month.
Pitcher Tanaka will rise to the Japanese mound for the first time in eight years since the seventh round of the Japan Series in November 2013, which led to the team's first in Japan.
Pitcher Tanaka has 99 wins in total in professional baseball, and is approaching one more win until the milestone of 100 wins, so it will be interesting to see if he can achieve it in the first round of his return.