Will the Giants’ water fit…Shocking risk creeping up on “Rui Okoye,” who has drastically increased his weight due to lack of self-control. | FRIDAY DIGITAL

Will the Giants’ water fit…Shocking risk creeping up on “Rui Okoye,” who has drastically increased his weight due to lack of self-control.

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Rui Okoye, 25, of the Giants, is showing his true colors in the opening rounds of the professional baseball season.

Rui Okoye is making a strong appeal to be a starter for the opening day of the season.

Rui Okoye was transferred from Rakuten to the Giants in the “active draft,” which was held for the first time in baseball last December. Although he is one of the most physically gifted players in baseball, he has failed to live up to his reputation as the No. 1 draft pick in the first seven years of his professional career. Perhaps because of this, he was the focus of much attention from the time he joined the team, except for his baseball play. Before long, he had become one of the “outsiders” of the baseball world.

However, in his new home, he has been making a strong appeal to win a starting spot, just like a fish out of water.

From the February 17 red-and-white game during camp to the March 15 open game against SoftBank, he had hits in 13 consecutive games. At his press conference, he said, “I haven’t been able to get good results in the past few years, so I want to give something back to Rakuten, and I want to appeal to the Giants by getting results.

He has hit .333 with three runs batted in and two stolen bases (as of March 24), and is the leading candidate to start the season opener not only as a starter but also as the leadoff man.

An acquaintance of Okoye’s from his days at Rakuten says that mental stability has been a factor in his great transformation.

He has been saying for the past few years that he could do more if only he could change his environment,” said an acquaintance of Okoye’s from his days at Rakuten. And now that I have returned to my hometown in Tokyo and am in a perfect environment, I am able to face baseball while maintaining high motivation. I have always had ups and downs in my mind, and my mental state directly affects my performance.

The Giants are famous for their strict rules and discipline, and Okoye was a little scared when he first heard about the move, but now he is completely at home and says to those around him, “It’s easier to play with than Rakuten.

On the other hand, he is not without concerns. During his time at Rakuten, his character did not last long, which hindered his growth. Once he starts to lose his grip on the world, his performance is bound to plummet, and some are concerned about another risk: the risk of failure due to physical changes. There is another risk: the risk of breakdowns due to physical changes.

He was always injured anyway and had to have a scalpel in his body every year. I think one of the reasons for this is that he is getting too big. I work incredibly hard on things that I can see, such as training for immediate results and numbers. So I love to modify my body, such as increasing muscle strength and weight. My weight was in the 80kg range when I joined the team, but it reached the 100kg mark around 2005.

But although I succeeded in increasing my power, I definitely lost the speed and flexibility that were my biggest weapons. He is still a very agile athlete, but he is not as fast as he used to be. He is also slower to get to top speed. Despite this, I think he is getting injured more often because he is playing with the same sensation he had when his body was sharp. How much can I squeeze out of my body for true awakening? He has always had a tendency to gain weight, so self-control, including eating habits, is essential.

In February, he told the media that he had lost 98-99 kg from 102 kg during the off-season, but for some reason, Okoye’s profile on the Giants’ official website lists his weight as 90 kg.

During his tenure with Rakuten from 2004 to 2010, he weighed 90 kg every year in the player’s directory. Leaving aside the question of whether this is true or not, if Okoye can reduce his weight to the figure in his profile, his true awakening will be no more than a dream. The first season of the new team’s first year will finally begin, where “evolution” and “true value” will be questioned.

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