Lotte pitcher Aki Sasaki and Orix pitcher Yoshinobu Yamamoto, who are expected to be used as starting pitchers at the training camp of the Japanese national baseball team for the WBC = World Baseball Classic, will be in the bullpen for the first time on the 19th. I entered and practiced pitching.
The WBC Japan national team will hold a training camp at the Prefectural General Athletic Park in Miyazaki City until February 27 in preparation for the March tournament.
On the 19th, the third day of the training camp, pitcher Sasaki entered the bullpen for the first time and threw 37 pitches against a sitting catcher.
The breakdown of the 37 balls was 22 straight balls, 10 fork balls, and 5 sliders. was thrown into
In addition, there was a desire to get used to the official WBC ball, such as throwing a new ball in the middle of practice.
And after pitching practice, he had a passionate discussion with pitcher Yu Darvish, who was watching the bullpen.
Pitcher Sasaki said, "Pitcher Darvish praised me, saying, 'The slider is getting better.' I was.
In addition, pitcher Yamamoto entered the bullpen for the first time after entering the training camp, and threw 36 pitches including straight balls, fork balls, and cut balls against Yuhei Nakamura of Yakult.
Pitcher Yamamoto was preparing for the actual game by asking Nakamura about the curve of the curve ball and pitching with the batter standing at bat.
Pitcher Yamamoto said, "I was able to throw comfortably with Mr. Nakamura on board. All the changing balls were subtle. It's not the influence of the official ball, it's a matter of condition, so I want to calmly prepare from now on."