Pitcher Aki Sasaki of professional baseball Lotte pitched for the first time in a real-life batting practice at a camp held in Ishigaki Island, Okinawa, and showed a smooth adjustment, measuring a maximum speed of 160 km.
Pitcher Sasaki, who has been selected to represent Japan in the WBC = World Baseball Classic, which opens next month, is making adjustments using the official ball of the tournament at Lotte's camp, which started this month.
On the 9th, he took the mound for the first time in a real-life batting practice, where he made whiffs with sharply dropping forks against main batters such as Naonori Yasuda, and threw powerful straights into the in-course of the left batter.
Although there were occasions when the slider did not bend completely and floated, pitcher Sasaki threw 5 pitches per batter, a total of 30 pitches, and hit 2 hits. While Director Rihito was watching, he showed a smooth adjustment.
According to the team, the fastest straight was 160 kilometers.
Pitcher Sasaki said, “I was able to feel the atmosphere of the actual game when I threw the ball. , I want to throw it without injury."
Also, Director Yoshii said, "I felt like he wasn't throwing the curve ball where I thought it would be, but I think he's doing well at this point."
Pitcher Sasaki is scheduled to pitch in the practice game on the 15th of this month.