Yakult professional baseball team captain Tetsuto Yamada and closer pitcher Reito Taguchi were removed from the first-team roster on the 30th, the second day of the season's opening day, due to poor conditions. Yakult suffered a series of injuries to its main players even before the start of the season, and immediately after the start of the season, the main pitching and hitting players decided to leave the team.
On the 29th, 31-year-old Yamada started as the No. 5 and second-rounder in the opening game held at Jingu Stadium, the team's home stadium.
In the first at-bat of the second inning, he advanced to third base between Santana's center field fly ball, which continued to hit two bases, but immediately afterward, he put his hands on his knees on the base and took slow, heavy steps during the change of offense and defense. and returned to the bench.
He played defense in the next three innings and grounded out, but in his last at-bat, he was sent as a pinch hitter and retired to the bench.
After the match, manager Shingo Takatsu said, ``He seemed to feel some discomfort in his lower body when he ran,'' and Yamada was removed from the first team's roster on the 30th.
Pitcher Taguchi, the closer, was also deregistered on the 30th due to readjustment.
Pitcher Taguchi left midway through the camp due to poor lower body condition and was slow to start, and although he took the mound in the 9th inning with a 4-run lead on the 29th, he pitched 1 inning, allowing 1 run with 2 hits and 1 walk. It was something that left me uneasy.
Yakult's team was in a difficult situation, as pitchers Yasuhiro Ogawa and Yasunobu Okugawa, who were expected to be part of the starting rotation, were unable to make it in time for the start of the season due to poor conditions, and promising young player Soma Uchiyama, a fourth-year player, also left before the start of the season. In addition, they were missing their main pitching and hitting players, and the season got off to a tough start as they aimed to make a comeback from fifth place.