<figure id="attachment_395520" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-395520" style="width: 1667px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><a href="#" data-ident_hash="7e3deb46"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/fridaydigital/image/private/t_article_image/wpmedia/2024/10/f6c133c3da024147fdd56c868e8773b9-2.jpg" alt=""></a><figcaption id="caption-attachment-395520" class="wp-caption-text">Muuto Kanamaru (21) [Kansai University] Number one southpaw of his generation, inevitably a contender &#8217;03, born in Kobe City, Hyogo Prefecture. After entering Kansai University from Shinko Tachibana High School, he became an ace in his second year and made the Samurai.</figcaption></figure>
<h2> Left arm called &#8220;lover of tigers</h2>
<p> In the baseball club of Kansai University, one of the most prestigious universities in the West, there is a left arm who is called &#8220;the tiger&#8217;s lover.</p>
<p><span class="strongInContent"> I am happy that Hanshin fans and the Kansai media are paying attention to me like that, but I myself will just try to play an active role for the team that nominated me,&#8221; he said.</span></p>
<p> The man who beamed as he said this was Yumeto Kanamaru, 21, born in Hyogo, the home town of the Hanshin baseball team, and with a maximum speed of 154 km/h, is sure to be a contender for the No. 1 pick in the October 24 draft meeting.</p>
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<p><span class="strongInContent"> I started baseball because I wanted to be a professional baseball player, but I was small and didn&#8217;t have any experience. I am thrilled to think that my dream, which I gave up once in high school, might come true, and I am also looking forward to it. I am glad that I never gave up and worked hard.</span></p>
<p> His father, Yuichi, who named him &#8220;Yumeto&#8221; with the hope that he will become a child who strives for his dreams, is a high school baseball umpire in Hyogo Prefecture who handled games and was the first base umpire in the quarterfinals of this summer&#8217;s Koshien tournament. He has worked hard at baseball, dreaming of the day when he would be on the same stage at Koshien.</p>
<p><span class="strongInContent"> I have been a pitcher since I was in the lower grades of elementary school,&#8221; he said. I hated to lose, and I always went at my own pace. My fastball wasn&#8217;t very fast, but I never had trouble controlling it. I was told by my coaches that if I grew physically, I would become a good player, so I was looking forward to my physical growth.</span></p>
<p> His father&#8217;s position of being able to see the top high school ballplayers at Koshien from a closer distance than anyone else must have been useful in guiding his son.</p>
<p><span class="strongInContent"> He taught me the characteristics of the high-level pitchers who pitched in the games I officiated, such as the mound handling of Kosei Yoshida (Orix, 23), who created a whirlwind in the summer of 2006, and his impression of a straight ball that extends out of the batter&#8217;s hands,&#8221; he said.</span></p>
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<p> It is not unusual for top draft prospects to be called prodigies in their hometowns from the time they are in elementary and junior high school. However, no strong schools in the Kinki region were willing to recruit Kanemaru, who was just over 160 cm tall when he graduated from junior high school, and he chose Jinko Tachibana as his school of choice because &#8220;the training environment was good among public schools.</p>
<p> Although he grew quickly in height, the Koshien Tournament was cancelled in the summer of his junior year due to the COVID-19 crisis.</p>
<p> Kanemaru grew to 177 cm, and in the spring of his second year at university, he emerged as a standout and ranked first in the Kansai Student Baseball League in defensive rating. In March of this year, he joined the ranks of NPB players as a member of the Samurai Japan team and started a game against the European team, pitching two perfect innings.</p>
<p><span class="strongInContent"> He said, &#8220;I was able to play baseball with top-notch pitchers like the ones I see on TV, and I was able to absorb a lot of things from them. Daiya Miyagi (Orix, 23) and Chikichiro Sumida (Seibu, 25), who also pitched to my left, taught me how to grip the breaking ball and how to feel my fingertips when releasing.</span></p>
<p> After that, days of not being able to pitch continued due to a bone spur in his lower back, but he returned this fall and has continued his &#8220;zero earned runs&#8221; streak of 69 consecutive innings in league games.</p>
<p> His idol is Shota Imanaga (31) of the Cubs. I want to learn from him when he strikes out swinging with a straight ball.</p>
<p><span class="strongInContent"> As Hirokazu Ibata, 49, the manager of the Samurai Japan team, told me, I want to become a left fielder representing Japan in the future.</span></p>
<div data-friday-nextpage-lead=" A left fielder representing his generation"></div>
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<figure id="attachment_395519" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-395519" style="width: 1239px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><a href="#" data-ident_hash="a7478077"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/fridaydigital/image/private/t_article_image/wpmedia/2024/10/7ae870f48819234bbe901b8cdcc94b45.jpg" alt=""></a><figcaption id="caption-attachment-395519" class="wp-caption-text">Ryusei Fujita (18) [Tokai University Sagami High School] Everything is out of the standard, a &#8220;Giant of Kanagawa&#8221; Born in Fujisawa City, Kanagawa Prefecture in 2006. He began playing baseball in the first grade of elementary school, and finished in the top eight as the ace in this summer&#8217;s Koshien tournament.</figcaption></figure>
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<h2> Outstanding physique</h2>
<p> Ryusei Fujita, 18, the ace of Tokai University Sagami, who reached the quarterfinals of this summer&#8217;s Koshien tournament, is one of the leading left-handers of his generation. In addition to the rarity of being a southpaw, his out-of-this-world height of 198 cm, which is strongly inherited from his parents, both former volleyball players, is also an attraction. He was one of the first to adopt the two-step motion, which was lifted this spring in high school baseball, and he throws white pitches while swinging his right leg up twice like a pendulum, which has increased the power of his pitches, with the maximum speed reaching 150 km/h. &#8220;The two-step motion is working well,&#8221; he said.</p>
<p><span class="strongInContent"> The two-stage motion worked out well for me, and I was able to pitch with a good feeling at Koshien. I don&#8217;t think I would be where I am today if I hadn&#8217;t had that chance.</span></p>
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<p> The knuckle curve, one of his signature pitches, is a magic pitch that makes batters feel as if it is falling from ceiling height.</p>
<p><span class="strongInContent"> I&#8217;ve been trying to throw it as high as I can,&#8221; he said. &#8220;I&#8217;ve been aiming for a curve that bends and falls from a height that hitters have never experienced before. But basically, I think he is the type of pitcher who uses his breaking ball to set up the count and then throws a straight ball to win the game.</span></p>
<p> Fujita is a tall and dexterous pitcher with good fielding skills.</p>
<p><span class="strongInContent"> He weighs in at 93 kg, which is still the standard for a pitcher of his size. I need to gain weight to be able to compete in the pros, and I need to gain muscle mass. I eat about five meals a day so that I am never hungry, but I can&#8217;t seem to gain weight. First of all, I would like to get close to 100 kg.&#8221;</span></p>
<p> His out-of-this-world physique gives him a lot of room to grow.</p>
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<div data-friday-nextpage-lead=" Called up to the Samurai Japan Team"></div>
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<figure id="attachment_395518" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-395518" style="width: 1685px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><a href="#" data-ident_hash="e27b13ef"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/fridaydigital/image/private/t_article_image/wpmedia/2024/10/c7bc3d36c3b49f259fb9788bcdc56ee5-1.jpg" alt=""></a><figcaption id="caption-attachment-395518" class="wp-caption-text">Yuto Nakamura (21) [Aichi Institute of Technology] Born in Isahaya City, Nagasaki Prefecture in 2003. His fastest pitch, a 159 km/h straight, is reminiscent of Seibu&#8217;s Hirara Kaiba (24).</figcaption></figure>
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<h2> A powerful arm with a former desire to become a public servant.</h2>
<p> Yuto Nakamura, 21, a right-handed pitcher from Aichi Institute of Technology University, was called up to the top team of Samurai Japan along with Kanamaru and Rui Soyama, 21, an infielder from Meiji University, and is also a candidate for the top spot. Like his rival Kanamaru, Nakamura was an unknown player in junior high school, and chose to go to the agricultural engineering department of Isahaya Agricultural College, a public school in Nagasaki Prefecture, because he &#8220;wanted to become a civil servant.</p>
<p><span class="strongInContent"> He said, &#8220;It is a school where students learn how to design lifelines and other social infrastructure, and it is a difficult course to get into, with the odds of getting in more than twice as high. My classmates have gone on to work for the Nagasaki Prefectural Government, the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport, and Tourism, and the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry, and Fisheries from high school. At the time, I had no idea that I would ever aspire to become a professional.</span></p>
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<p> Despite this, only Mitsuchika Hirai, 57, a former Lotte outfielder who is now the manager of Aikikai University, was smitten with Nakamura&#8217;s potential. He visited Nakamura for the first time when Nakamura was in his second year of high school and approached him, and Nakamura decided to go on to Aikokudai.</p>
<p> In his final summer, the Koshien Tournament was cancelled, and while his classmates, anxious to find work due to the COVID-19 crisis, gave up on participating in their own tournament, Nakamura took part.</p>
<p><span class="strongInContent"> There were people who wanted to play baseball but couldn&#8217;t,&#8221; Nakamura said. I wanted to do my best at university to make up for them.</span></p>
<p> Immediately after entering the university, Nakamura took the starting mound in the Aichi University Baseball League in the spring of his freshman year and won a game. Since that time, he has had his sights set on the pros, and his straight ball has reached a maximum velocity of 159 km/h. He throws with a compact, short arm using his right arm.</p>
<p><span class="strongInContent"> I studied my own form to avoid putting stress on my right shoulder and elbow, and arrived at my current form. I think my strengths are the strength of my fastball, my low ground ball rate, the sharpness of my breaking ball (&#8230;&#8230;), and my stamina to throw in the upper 150 km/h range even late in a game.</span></p>
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<p> The Aikokai campus, located in the hills of Yakusa, Toyota City, is not surrounded by any kind of recreational facilities, and the only place Nakamura goes when he is off work is to the Aeon Mall in Nagakute City.</p>
<p><span class="strongInContent"> For me, who grew up in the countryside, a place like Yakusa, where there are no taverns or places to go for fun, suits me. Now it is my second hometown (laughs).&#8221;</span></p>
<p> On the day of the interview, just two weeks before the draft, Nakamura said, &#8220;I don&#8217;t feel any special tension.</p>
<p><span class="strongInContent"> The team that picks me is the team of my destiny. My goal is not to become a professional player, but to play an active role in the pros, and that is what I have been training for. I want to become a player who gives people dreams and hopes, like Yakult&#8217;s Munetaka Murakami (24), who played with me in the Samurai Japan team.</span></p>
<p> Among this year&#8217;s draft picks, who are more likely to be raw material rather than immediate starters, these three players are expected to make a big leap forward.</p>
<p> From the November 1-8, 2024 issue of FRIDAY</p>


 Yuji Yanagawa (non-fiction writer)

 Kei Kato (Kanamaru), Hiroyuki Komatsu (Fujita, Nakamura)

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