Tetsuto Yamada, the captain of Yakult, who has won back-to-back league titles in professional baseball and the Central League, unveiled his voluntary training in Matsuyama, saying, "I want to achieve good results as an individual in order to win the league for the third time in a row and regain the top spot in Japan." I talked about my enthusiasm for the season.
Some Yakult players have their own training at Botchan Stadium in Matsuyama City every year around this time.
This year, Yamada, the captain, and Yuhei Nakamura, the catcher, started practicing with players such as Hiroshima and Lotte.
Of these, Yamada had a batting average of 20%, 4 minutes and 3 minutes last season, which was the lowest record in his 12 years as a professional, so he said that the theme is to transfer the bat more than usual from this off to spring camp. That's it.
On the 10th, after running on the field, we moved to the indoor practice field, played catch and got knocked, and sweated.
He also practiced batting against the machine, checking his swing and hitting loose balls.
Yamada said, "I feel like this year is finally starting. Quality is important, but this year I want to do a practice menu with increased quantity."
Looking ahead to the season, which will be his third year as captain, he said, "As a team, we are aiming to win the league title for the third time in a row and regain the top spot in Japan, so I want to bring the team together for that. I also want to achieve good results as an individual." I was.
Yakult Yuhei Nakamura to WBC representative member
Yakult's Yuhei Nakamura once again revealed in an interview with the press on the 10th that he was directly contacted by Japan's manager Kuriyama to be called to the WBC = World Baseball Classic representative member.
After that, he expressed his enthusiasm, saying, "There is a lot of pressure because it is a tournament that attracts the attention of the world, but I am happy as a baseball player. I will prepare well and do my best to win the world championship."
When it comes to receiving balls from Shohei Ohtani and Yu Darvish, he said, "I'm just looking forward to it. I want to communicate properly about what kind of pitch I want to throw."