<figure id="attachment_215027" class="wp-caption alignnone" style="width: 773px;" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-215027"><a href="#" data-ident_hash="3f9ea0a4"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/fridaydigital/image/private/t_article_image/wpmedia/2021/11/2021110910636.jpg" alt=""></a><figcaption id="caption-attachment-215027" class="wp-caption-text">Shinjo coaches Kiyomiya (right) with gestures. His words may be gentle, but his message is serious (Image: Kyodo News)</figcaption></figure>
 &#8220;If you don&#8217;t have the courage to change something, you&#8217;ll never become a star.
On November 9, Takashi Shinjo, 49, visited Kunigami, Okinawa, where Nippon-Ham is holding its fall training camp, and spoke to Kotaro Kiyomiya, 22, who will enter his fifth year next season. He gave him advice with body touches and gestures. He pinched Kiyomiya on his left side and said, &#8220;You&#8217;re a little fat, aren&#8217;t you?
 &#8220;You&#8217;re a little fat, aren&#8217;t you?　Why don&#8217;t you lose weight?　You&#8217;ll be more popular if you lose weight.
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When Kiyomiya said, &#8220;I&#8217;m afraid that if I lose weight, I won&#8217;t be able to hit the ball as far,&#8221; Shinjo quickly countered.
 &#8220;Even now, the ball doesn&#8217;t fly that far. In the past, it flew more. Wasn&#8217;t he slimmer in the past?　That&#8217;s because I was sharp. I don&#8217;t think I&#8217;m as sharp now, so let&#8217;s give it a try.
During his time at Waseda Jitsugyo, Kiyomiya hit a record 111 home runs in high school, earning him the nickname &#8220;the Japanese Babe Ruth. He has a batting average of .199 and a league-worst 113 strikeouts, while also hitting 19 home runs in the second round.
 I&#8217;m still stuck in the success I had in high school,&#8221; he said. He believes that if he gains weight and gets bigger, he will be able to increase his batting average and hit more home runs. He eats a lot, and there is an anecdote that he ate seven beef tongue lunch boxes on the way from Sendai to Tokyo.
 However, the professional game is not so easy that the style of his high school days can be applied as is. My classmate Munetaka Murakami of Yakult, who hit 39 home runs this season and became the Central League&#8217;s home run king, is very sharp because he has been working hard, as manager Shinjo said. Kiyomiya also practices a lot, but his body looks heavy and he swings the bat with a lot of force. It seems to me that his way of thinking is fundamentally wrong.
<h2>&#8220;Don&#8217;t say, &#8220;Swing harder.</h2>
Shinjo also gave some advice on Kiyomiya&#8217;s defense.
 &#8220;He is not flexible at all. You need to make your body squishy by spring.
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The reason why Shinjo&#8217;s words are so convincing is that he himself works out stoically, and the photo of his upper body from August, which he posted on Instagram on November 11, shows clear growth from the slender body he had in January. On Instagram, he wrote, &#8220;To all the lovely fighters of the Fighters.
 &#8220;I can&#8217;t wait to see you all transformed on February 1st. I&#8217;m looking forward to it.
He tried out for the team last off-season in his late 40s, and it&#8217;s no wonder he was able to play as well as he did during his active career. At the fall camp, he also said, &#8220;I want you to be sharp.
 In the fall camp, he said, &#8220;I want to be sharp and hit the ball with ease. If I do that, the ball will fly further. (Kiyomiya and other players nowadays have the image of swinging with all their might and hitting mediocre pitches. Let&#8217;s stop saying, &#8216;Swing harder.
Although his words are gentle, Shinjo&#8217;s advice seems to have a serious meaning behind it.
 Shinjo&#8217;s words are gentle, but he seems to be hiding a stern truth behind his advice: &#8220;Nippon Ham has a laissez-faire approach, leaving things like training methods to the players&#8217; own initiative. This is not the case with manager Shinjo. He talks to each player, points out shortcomings, and gives advice. It&#8217;s a serious message from the manager. It&#8217;s a serious message from the manager: &#8220;If you don&#8217;t change, you&#8217;ll be in trouble.
 Kiyomiya has been given preferential treatment as a &#8216;star of Koshien,&#8217; but it won&#8217;t be the same in the future. He can&#8217;t afford to sit back and relax in the second team and wait for the first team to call on him. I&#8217;m a calm person, but if I don&#8217;t change my mindset, I won&#8217;t be able to survive in the professional world. He should realize that if he continues like this, he will be out of the game and will be in danger of having to take off his uniform at a young age.
I wonder how much the words of the &#8220;Big Boss&#8221; touched the young long-distance gun. &#8220;In the event that you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact us.

 Kyodo News

 It's been a long time since we've had a chance to talk about this. This is the first time I've been able to do so. "I'm not going to be able to increase my flying distance if I don't lose weight. I'm not sure if you've heard of it, but I have. What was his very stern message to Kiyomiya?

Japan ham manager Shinjo asks Kiyomiya, “Can’t you lose weight? The seriousness of his weight-loss directive

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