Last season's leading hitter, Orix's Yuma Tongu, has a goal that hasn't changed since he turned professional. This season, he will aim to win the home run title for the first time using his characteristic long hitting power and the distance he has cultivated through extensive practice.
Tongu, who turned professional after graduating from university, has only reached the required at-bat once in the past five years, which was last season.
Last season, he left the team in September due to a stress fracture in the top of his left foot, and the regular season ended.
Despite this, Tongu, who became the number one hitter, set the theme of this year's camp as building a strong body to be able to compete for a year without getting injured.
At camp, we train our bodies by lifting weighted balls to put stress on our lower bodies, and then at the end we do batting practice.
Tongu, who believes that ``quantity is important,'' has been taking more batting practice than usual in his quest to become the home run king.He practices batting every day at camp, even during his lunch break, and is constantly hitting the ball back.
He has increased his distance and is hitting more balls over the fence.
Furthermore, he continues to swing the bat at the indoor practice range even after the general practice is over.
Tongu said, ``While I have free time, I want to make the most of it. I don't think I'll be able to participate in the match unless I get results, so I want to prepare carefully. I want to show off and aim to participate from the opening day.'' We were talking.