Daisuke Matsuzaka, who is an alumnus of the team and has won a total of 170 games in both Japan and the United States, will participate in the professional baseball team Seibu's camp held in Nichinan City, Miyazaki Prefecture, as a temporary coach for the second consecutive year, joining the team as the first pick in the draft. He highly praised pitcher Natsuki Takeuchi.

On the 11th, the first day of the second season of Seibu's camp, Mr. Matsuzaka, an alumnus of the team known as the ``Heisei Monster,'' who won a total of 170 games between Japan and the United States, joined the team for the second consecutive year as a temporary pitching coach.



At the beginning of practice, Matsuzaka greeted the players by saying, ``We'll be mainly looking at the pitchers, but if there's something we notice, we'd like to let you know.Of course, you're welcome to ask us directly.''



After this, Mr. Matsuzaka immediately moved to the bullpen and carefully watched the pitching of pitcher Takeuchi, who joined the team with the first pick in the draft, from diagonally behind him, occasionally nodding his head.



Pitcher Takeuchi, who entered the bullpen for the third time in this camp, threw 57 pitches, mixing in fastballs and breaking balls as before, while keeping the batters on their feet with an awareness of the actual battle.After the camp, he pitched 57 pitches with Matsuzaka We exchanged opinions for more than a minute.



Matsuzaka said of his first impressions, ``When he was pitching with the catcher standing up, I thought, ``This pitcher is good.'' The angle of the fastball was amazing, and I felt that his form was difficult to get the timing right.'' He then said, ``Personally, I'm just looking forward to it.I want him to start the season without any injuries, and I don't know what Coach Matsui thinks, but when I saw that ball, it was obvious that I'd be a pitcher who would be in the rotation from the season opener.'' I think so,” he praised.



Pitcher Takeuchi said, ``He had a great aura, but when I talked to him, he was very easy to talk to and friendly.I received a lot of compliments, but I was told that it was important to pitch against professional batters, so first I pitched in an actual game.'' I want to do my best to achieve this goal,'' he said with enthusiasm.



Matsuzaka is scheduled to serve as Seibu's temporary coach until the 14th of this month, when the second season ends.