<figure id="attachment_326426" class="wp-caption alignnone" style="width: 2500px;" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-326426"><a href="#" data-ident_hash="dad6c570"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/fridaydigital/image/private/t_article_image/wpmedia/2023/08/a6d227fd92df146d338306e2b1bc1b52.jpg" alt=""></a><figcaption id="caption-attachment-326426" class="wp-caption-text">In the off-season, his teammates sometimes appear in his delivery. He also uploads videos of himself explaining his pitches on an irregular basis.</figcaption></figure>
 I laughed when I saw Hirara playing baseball.
When the distributor found this comment in the viewer&#8217;s chat box, which was flowing in and out of viewers&#8217; chats at a dizzying pace, he immediately responded, &#8220;You&#8217;ve got it backwards!&#8221;
This was a scene from &#8220;Taira Gem,&#8221; the personal YouTube channel of Hirara Hiruma (23) of the Saitama Seibu Lions. It is unprecedented for a professional baseball player, especially one who is a mainstay pitcher in the starting rotation of the first team, to distribute a live video game on his personal channel during the season. When he pitches, viewers tease him, saying, &#8220;A YouTuber is playing baseball (laughs),&#8221; but his day job is going well.
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In his second year as a professional pitcher, he has made a number of appearances for the first team, and last season, his fifth year, he won the title of best relay pitcher with a 1.56 earned run average. In his sixth year as a professional pitcher, he made a direct appeal to the team to become a starter. During the spring training camp, he declined to participate in the WBC and worked hard to make adjustments.
 I think I can contribute more to the team by pitching longer innings, and I have not changed my mind about that since I was a rookie. Still, it was a big decision for me to switch to a starting pitcher. If I had gone to the WBC, I wouldn&#8217;t have been able to prepare as well as I would have liked.&#8221;
Although there was much opposition to his switch to a starting pitcher, including the team&#8217;s leadership, he won six games in the first half of this season alone, and his 2.30 earned-run average was the third best in the league (as of August 2, 2012). But in reality, Hirara is a very clever pitcher. He uses the information he gathers from data analysis companies and other sources to formulate his pitching strategy.
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 He says, &#8220;I check the characteristics of my ball against the opponents&#8217; strong courses and types of pitches, and think about what kind of pitches I should throw to get the results I am looking for. I also consider other aspects of pitching besides data, such as how my fingertips feel on the day and how my body is feeling. I hope that my success as a starter will increase the number of Seibu fans and baseball fans.
Hirara&#8217;s &#8220;special hobby&#8221; mentioned at the beginning of this article was also the result of thinking about what he could do for his beloved baseball.
&#8220;I&#8217;m particular about live broadcasting, where I can connect with viewers in real time,&#8221; he said. &#8220;Usually, junior high school and high school students and amateur baseball players don&#8217;t have the chance to ask questions to the pros. That&#8217;s why I came up with the idea of giving the pros&#8217; thoughts and tips on how to improve while playing the game in a casual manner. I also talked openly about my annual salary and the salary transfer system (laughs). With live broadcasting, I don&#8217;t need any editing skills, and I manage the channel myself. I just want to spread the word about baseball.&#8221;
Behind the joyful screen, there is the determination of a young lion who will carry the baseball world on his back.
<figure id="attachment_326427" class="wp-caption alignnone" style="width: 2500px;" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-326427"><a href="#" data-ident_hash="6991c8f0"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/fridaydigital/image/private/t_article_image/wpmedia/2023/08/584ebac4ef0a27d401ae8312232e31fd.jpg" alt=""></a><figcaption id="caption-attachment-326427" class="wp-caption-text">Basically, he distributes FPS games. The number of registered users is about 92,000, and the total number of views is about 7 million.</figcaption></figure>
From the August 18-25, 2023 issue of FRIDAY

 Shinji Hamasaki

 Seibu Lions' Kaiba Taira streams live video games on his personal channel. It is unprecedented for a major pitcher to be broadcasting during the season, but his main business is going well. His "special hobby" was also a result of thinking about what he could do for his beloved baseball.

Kaiba Taira of Saitama Seibu Lions, Reveals Why He Stream Live Video Games During the Season

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