Kota Yamashita, a 20-year-old outfielder, joined the giant who entered Fukuoka from Sapporo on the 8th. In the Seibu educational league game on the 6th, he hit a home run and 5 at-bats, 4 hits and 2 runs. driven. Last season he suffered a broken right hand, but in the 19 he was a newcomer to the Eastern League, but he recovered the blow that shone as the leading hitter in the Eastern League.

Despite being a training player, the number of fielders in the 1st Army has increased to 18 with the addition of Yamashita. Nakajima and Kamei will join Orix’s (Kyocera Dome Osaka) match on the 12th, and the total number of fielders will increase to 20. Due to special Corona rules, the number of people on the 1st Army bench will be 26, which it is one more than usual. Director Tatsunori Hara (62) was pleased with the attractiveness of the gardeners, saying, “Everyone is doing their best,” while saying, “Among them, (the gardeners) must be around 17 people. No. Even if you silent with 20 people “. , efficiency will not increase, “he shouted with joy.

The existence of “Mega Godzilla” has made the competition even fiercer. Infielder Yuto Akihiro (18 = Univ. De Nishogakusha), who is the longest in the world of ball and is fifth in the draft with a height of 2 meters, has 8 hits in 31 at-bats in the outside play and 3 hits in 9 turns. bats in open play 30% 3 minutes 3 meters. In the game against the Nippon-Ham Fighters (Sapporo Dome) on Day 6, he recorded two hits in the open game of a giant graduate rookie since Hayato Sakamoto in 2007, and in the same game the next day, he had two hits. , and on the traditional team, “Godzilla” in 1993. It was the first time a rookie high school graduate had landed a multiple hit in open play since Hideki Matsui. Akihiro climbed the stairs on his own to the position of “gain experience in an army” → “try” → “use as force” with his own bat. The starting lineup for the team’s high school graduates since Sadaharu Oh in 1959 is no longer a dream story.

The new force will also accelerate the intensification of survival. Infielder Taishi Hirooka (23), who joined by exchange from Yakult on day 1, drew the first arc after the transfer in the battle of the old nest on day 4 of the transfer and responded to the first starting lineup, and has become the force of the 1st Army. The commander who called for “high-level competition after improving individual skills” said, “It would be difficult if Akihiro became a (opening) member. The composition of the members is. Even if it is Hirooka, it will be. Yes. something like that happens, I feel like the level has risen considerably, “he nodded.

Nakajima and Kamei, who have been trained in 100 battles, will appear as starting members if the conditions are right. Not only Akihiro and Hirooka, but also Wakabayashi, Kitamura, and Daiki Masuda continue to attract with their tough play in the 1st Army. The two consecutive battles with champion Softbank in Fukuoka, which will be the last before the two veterans unite, will be a touchstone for the starting members.[Takuya Hamamoto]