Professional baseball pitcher Takahisa Hayakawa of Rakuten practiced pitching in the bullpen in front of Hirokazu Ibata, manager of the Japanese national team, who was visiting to make an appeal.
Pitcher Hayakawa, who is in his fourth year, did not have the expected results last season with 6 wins and 7 losses due to poor condition, but he participated in international tournaments centered on young players in the fall, with his pitching that takes advantage of slow and slow pitching. I was selected to represent Japan and gained experience.
Pitcher Hayakawa showed off his pitch by throwing 76 pitches while checking the trajectory of a forkball in the bullpen while Japan National Team Manager Ibata was visiting.
Pitcher Hayakawa said, ``There will be an international tournament, the Premier 12, in the fall, so I want to do my best to aim for that.''
Director Ibata also said, ``I can confirm that pitcher Hayakawa has improved his level. I hope he continues to perform well throughout the season.''
Shimauchi, from Ishikawa Prefecture, ``I want to show that I'm working hard at baseball.''
Meanwhile, veteran player Hiroaki Shimauchi celebrated his 34th birthday on the 2nd. Last season, he suffered from poor batting and experienced a decline in his performance with a batting average of .236 and seven home runs.
He goes into camp with the intention of reshaping his body through off-duty weight training and hitting the ball farther.
In addition, Shimauchi, a native of Ishikawa Prefecture, has friends who were affected by the Noto Peninsula earthquake on the 1st of last month, so he sent a donation to his hometown.
Shimauchi said, ``I want to show that I'm working hard at baseball.Right now, I want to be a batter who swings the ball well, hits the ball far, and makes opponents hate it.''