Kazumi Saito, Softbank’s new 4th team manager, reveals “Why we were 15.5 games behind the Orix”.

There is no difference in strength between Orix and

The biggest gap between my impression as a critic and the pitching staff was the strength of the pitching staff. Saito said, “If we have such a good pitching staff, we can win the championship.

The Hawks’ relief pitchers have the highest earned-run average in the Pacific League. The Hawks relievers have the No. 1 defense ratio in the Pacific League,” Saito said. So, where is the difference? The Orix use players with an eye on the future. For example, they use a relief pitcher who has been hit in the opposite field in a tough situation in the next game. ORIX shows its trust and expectations by the way it uses pitchers. Orix’s closer is veteran pitcher Hirano (Yoshihisa Hirano, 39), and while giving him a rest, he also allows him to get a solid save. Timing is important when refreshing, and it is no good giving him a rest after he is down. He is able to manage the team in total.

Carter Stewart, 24, was a first-round pick of the Braves in the Major League Draft, but was not signed by the Braves and joined the Hawks.

Stewart is a 24-year-old right-hander who was drafted in the first round by the Braves in the Major League Baseball draft but was not signed by the Hawks. But I managed to get an opportunity to start against Hanshin in the interleague game, and Oyama (Yusuke Oyama, 28), the No. 4 pitcher, started right away. I told him, “Even if they run, they have to go as far as second base. Stealing bases and fielding are OK! But you have to control the rest of the bases. Then something interesting happened. One day, when he was pitching well in the first team, I measured his quick time and found that it was 1.2 seconds, which was at the average level for the first team. I told him, ‘This is the result of your effort. But the ball rate when quick is high. When you throw quick pitches, throw them in the strike zone about as far as you can. If it’s your ball, they won’t hit it that hard,’ and my strike rate went up. My pitching changed.”

Over the past year, he has continued to stress the importance of “playing in the strike zone” to young pitchers who are desperate to pitch. It is natural to fail. What is important is what you learn from your mistakes.

I was looking forward to the day when I would be able to have such a conversation with these young people, who told me that they were not yet at the level of anger. However, that dream did not come true.

Starting next season, Mr. Saito will be watching the players at an even lower level.

As the fourth team manager….