I Can Still Play Baseball Because I Have No Real Skills or Achievements

“I started playing baseball at a level that was just an extension of playing.”

“I’m not that skilled of a player, you know.”

This is something the man who has appeared in 388 major league games often said. He doesn’t seem to be being modest; he genuinely believes it.

Junichi Tazawa, 38, was a draft candidate who joined the Boston Red Sox in 2008 without going through Japanese professional baseball. He mainly excelled as a reliever and contributed to the team’s World Series victory in 2013. This summer, he returned to the mound for the first time in 16 years at the urban intercity baseball tournament with his former team, ENEOS. However, his career is, as he puts it, far from elite.

Tazawa, who hails from Yokohama City, started playing baseball in the third grade of elementary school. He played as a pitcher in his middle school team at a level he described as “just an extension of play.” After a standout game that caught a coach’s attention, he was invited to Yokohama Shoka Daiko High School. It was there that he first experienced adversity (the following statements are from Tazawa).

“It was incredibly tough. If you made a mistake, the coach would yell, and sometimes he would even hit us. The practice hours were extremely long. Instead of thinking about how to improve, I was focused every day on how to avoid getting yelled at.”

In the summer of his second year, he participated in the Koshien tournament, but Tazawa was a backup pitcher and did not get to pitch. In the summer of his third year, as the ace, he faced Yokohama High School, which had Hidetoshi Wakui (now with the Chunichi Dragons), in the semifinals of the Kanagawa Prefectural Tournament and suffered a significant defeat, losing 3-16.

“After the summer tournament ended, the coach would ask if I wanted to submit a declaration of professional intention. When I asked, ‘If I submit it, will I get picked?’ he shot back, ‘There’s no way that’s going to happen!'”

He considered becoming a salaryman if he didn’t receive any offers from professional teams. The only team that expressed interest in him was the new Nippon Oil ENEOS (now ENEOS).

“For the first part of my second year, I was an unnoticed pitcher. My fastball was decent, but I couldn’t throw strikes with my breaking balls.”

 

I’m going to fire you

There were two key points in his growth. The first was the meals he was somewhat forced to eat.

“I was skinny, and my coach said, ‘If you don’t eat, you won’t practice,’ so I had to eat large servings of rice at every meal. My weight went from 67 kg in high school to 81 kg. Thanks to that, my control improved.”

The second point was the strict yet loving encouragement from head coach Hideaki Okubo.

“Even in my second year, I wasn’t getting results, and he motivated me by saying, ‘If you don’t improve after autumn, I’ll kick you off the team.’ I thought, if I’m going to get cut, I want to do my best without regrets, so I put more effort into practice. His words, ‘Throwing fastballs is just self-satisfaction; thinking about how to get batters out,’ made me reconsider my pitching approach.”

He must have had sufficient talent from the start. With Coach Okubo’s guidance, Tazawa made rapid progress, leading his team to victory in both the Sports Nippon tournament in March and the corporate championship in September during his fourth year, earning the MVP award and becoming a highly sought-after prospect.

“However, I felt a lot of anxiety. At ENEOS, I faced professionals and got hit quite a bit. If I entered the pros from the corporate league, I’d be expected to be an immediate asset. I didn’t have confidence that I could perform right away.”

During this time, Coach Okubo told him, “The majors are interested in you.”

“I didn’t have any particular longing for the majors. However, what each major league team presented was their development program. The Red Sox had the most concrete plan. Initially starting in the minors, I could clearly visualize what kind of training would lead to a call-up to the majors. Rather than entering professional baseball as an immediate asset, I chose the majors, where I could grow myself.”

Thanks to the development plan, Tazawa was promoted to the majors in his fourth year. As previously mentioned, he contributed to the Red Sox’s World Series championship in 2013. However, he often faced demotions to the minors due to injuries and long bus rides.

“One time, I ran into Tsuyoshi Nishioka, who was in the Twins’ minors, at a drive-thru during a late-night trip. He said to me, ‘What are you doing here?’ But I didn’t mind the minor league life. I remembered replying, ‘I was almost cut from the corporate team, and I’m not that great of a player. So it doesn’t bother me.’ If I had been getting solid results in professional baseball, I might have felt dissatisfied. Since I didn’t have much of an accomplishment, I saw everything as experience and could play baseball without regrets.”

Tazawa also played in Taiwan and Mexico. He decided to return to ENEOS after receiving a warm invitation from his mentor, Coach Okubo.

“It doesn’t matter whether it’s the minors or corporate baseball. I just want to cherish each play wherever I’m needed. I’m in a state of complete exhaustion, but as long as I’m needed, I want to continue being active.”

In the future, he hopes to pass on his rich experiences abroad to younger players.

From the October 11, 2024 issue of FRIDAY