Exclusive Interview with Sho Nakata of Chunichi Dragons: Farewell, Glorious Giants!

He clenched his right fist tightly.

This is a pose for martial artists, isn’t it? (laugh).

(Laughs.)” Saying this, Sho Nakata (34) responded honestly to the request of the FRIDAY photographer.

Nakata will be a member of the Chunichi Dragons starting this season. When FRIDAY heard that he was going to make a fresh start deep in Oita Prefecture, we immediately flew there to interview him. Nakata accepted the interview without hesitation.

What FRIDAY wanted to know was exactly about this “straightforwardness. Why did the cannonballer, who hit .269 with 24 hits the previous year, accept to be a substitute? He had two years left on his contract with a salary of 300 million yen, so why did he give it up without even a grunt of protest?

The cannonballer, who has hit over 300 home runs in his professional career, began to talk quietly.

I started thinking about leaving the Giants after the season ended. I wasn’t dissatisfied with the team or anything, I just genuinely thought, ‘I want to play in the games. Then I heard on LINE News or something that new manager Shinnosuke Abe (44) had said that first base would be fixed with Kazuma Okamoto (27), and I thought, ‘Well, then I have no choice. I thought, ‘Then I have no choice but to make some kind of decision.

The biggest obstacle was his family.

He has four children, the oldest of whom is still in elementary school. They were hesitant about changing their living environment.

I think my eldest daughter was wondering what we were going to do,” he said. She might have to change schools. Even so, my wife and children said, ‘We’ll follow you wherever you go. That was a big thing for me.”

He transferred from Nippon Ham in the middle of the ’21 season and left the Giants after three seasons. How did the glorious Giants appear in Nakata’s eyes?

I don’t have any good memories (laughs). I think it was when Shigeo Nagashima (87, manager emeritus for life) gave me hitting lessons. He told me, with gestures, to hold the bat out like this and to hold it short. He had an aura about him. I was also surprised that he was bigger than I expected. It’s because I was a member of the Giants. …… No, even if you were a member of the Giants, it was a very rare experience.”

The memories of the hard times came out in spurts. The second half of last season was much harder,” Nakata said with a wry smile.

It is difficult to bat in place of a pitcher. You have to have the courage to go for the first pitch and miss it. There are cases where you have to be on the lookout for changeable pitches. I have to keep the data in mind, watch the opposing pitcher’s film, and after the fifth inning, I go behind the bench and play …… because I think of the substitute hitting as a different sport. Every day, while watching the game from the bench, I thought, ‘I wish I could go into the game from the top of my head.’ …… The day before the game, the starting lineup is announced, but there is no explanation or follow-up about starting on the bench. Not because of me, but because the Giants don’t do that. However, Daisuke Motoki (52, strategy and infield defense coach) and Yoshiyuki Kamei (41, hitting coach) worked together with me. Mr. Motoki, in particular, would say to me, “You’re not playing today, are you? and he turned it into a laugh. He turned it into a laugh, saying, “On the contrary, why? He said, “I don’t know! He said, ‘I don’t know!