Lotte pitcher Aki Sasaki, who helped the Japan National Team win the WBC = World Baseball Classic in baseball, joined the team on the 28th and expressed his enthusiasm for throwing the designated innings during the season.
Sasaki started the WBC tournament where the Japan National Team won the championship for the first time in three tournaments, giving up one run in the middle of four innings in the first round against the Czech Republic and giving up three runs in four innings in the semifinal against Mexico.
Pitcher Sasaki, who joined the team's practice on the 28th, worked out his body by running and then played catch to check the feel of a professional baseball ball.
He also entered the bullpen for the first time after returning to Japan and threw about 20 pitches.
When interviewed after the practice, Sasaki said with a smile, "Darvish and Ohtani's style was very good, and I thought they were good, but I realized that they weren't good at all."
He also kept his head ahead of the new season, saying, "The fact that I was able to gain a lot of experience at the age of 21 will help me in the future, and I want to be able to throw the prescribed innings well during the season."