Professional baseball team DeNA's camp in Ginowan City, Okinawa Prefecture is on the last day of the second season. Pitcher Yasuaki Yamazaki, who aims to make a comeback as a closer, entered the bullpen and checked the accuracy of the right-handed batter's off-course fastball.
Pitcher Yamazaki, who is in his 10th year as a professional pitcher, started last season as a closer, but due to poor performance, he was reassigned to intermediate in July, pitching in 49 games with 3 wins, 7 losses, 20 saves, and an ERA of 4.37. It was the grades.
He was 23 saves away from making 250 saves, which is a condition for entering the Meikyukai, and was at camp with the theme of "recapturing the guardian deity," and on the 8th, the final day of the second season, he entered the bullpen for the fourth time at camp. .
In the bullpen, with the catcher seated and the umpire in attendance, he checked the balance of his form one by one and threw 48 pitches, focusing on the right-handed batter's out-course fastball, which he considers his starting point.
Starting from the 39th pitch, he tried three changeups, which he had not thrown in the regular season, to see how the balls changed.
Pitcher Yamazaki said, ``I'm working on increasing the use of my changeup so that I can play an active role throughout the year, and I want to improve it while watching batters' reactions.Last season, I had a frustrating time after leaving my role as guardian, so I'm trying to improve my changeup. I want to do everything I can to take it back."