Yuki Saito, who will retire from professional baseball and Nippon-Ham only this season, held a press conference and said, "It was basically a pain, but I had a good experience. Thank you very much for your support, "said the words of gratitude to the fans.
Pitcher Saito held a press conference on the 17th at the Orix match at Sapporo Dome before he faced the final pitch as a middle pitcher, and said that he decided to retire, saying, "Last year, I hurt my elbow, but I got a chance. I was hoping for results this season. "
Regarding his 11-year career as a professional, he recalled, "It was basically a lot of pain, but when I think about it now, I think it was a good experience for me."
In addition, as the most memorable match, he mentioned the opening game with Seibu in 2012 and said, "I was happy that I was nominated by Director Kuriyama as the opening pitcher and I was able to win the complete game there." bottom.
And as a word to the fans, "Thank you very much for watching Yuki Saito for a long time for 11 years since I came to the Fighters, or more specifically, for about 15 years from that summer Koshien in the third year of high school. I'm sorry. "
33-year-old pitcher Saito led the team to the championship in the summer national high school baseball that participated as the ace of Waseda Jitsugyo in 2006, and the appearance of wiping sweat with a hand towel on the mound became a big topic "Prince Handkerchief" It came to attract attention with the nickname of.
He joined Waseda University in 2011 with a draft of 1st place, and was expected to become a pillar of the pitcher team, such as winning 6 wins in the first season and being overtaken by the opening pitcher in the second year. Due to the injury on his right shoulder, he announced his retirement on the 1st of this month with a record of 15 wins and 26 losses and an earned run average of 4.34.