Some point out the training quota and the omission of a pick… Kazuhiro Kiyohara’s eldest son, Shogo, “is rumored to be picked in the draft conference” Surprising team names.

Will he really be selected?

The professional baseball draft conference is scheduled for October 24, and one player who will be in the spotlight is Shogo Kiyohara, 22, the No. 4 overall pick at Keio University. He is the eldest son of the legendary Kazuhiro Kiyohara (57), who hit a total of 525 homers in his professional career, and is 186 cm tall and weighs 90 kg, as well as his father. Although Shogo is well known, his baseball career has been interrupted for six years.

Shogo was away from baseball during the period when Kazuhiro was “in a rough patch. Kazuhiro and his wife Aki divorced in August 2002. He separated from Shogo and his second son, Katsuji, and was arrested in February 2004 for violating the Methamphetamine Control Law. Shogo must have grown tired of baseball because of his father’s successive troubles. He told several media outlets that he hated his father and baseball.

Shogo was a member of the American football team at Keio High School. However, when club activities were suspended due to the COVID-19 crisis, he began practicing baseball with his estranged father. He says that he realized once again how happy he was to be able to play catch with his father and how much fun it was to play baseball. It was not until he entered Keio University that he resumed baseball in earnest.

His main goal by the summer was to ……

Shogo’s ability when he first entered the school was not at the level of a university athlete due to a blank, and by his junior year he had just one hit in nine at-bats in a league game of the Tokyo Rokugaku Daigaku Baseball Tournament. It was not until my senior year that I began to develop rapidly. With his father’s good physique and athleticism, his abilities blossomed, and he was selected to play the No. 4 position for Keio University. In the current fall league, he hit two home runs (as of October 22).

However, his batting average in the fall league is only 20%, which is not enough. Will he be able to make it in the pros?

He is not an immediate threat to the pro game. With his current ability, even if he does make it to the pros, he will most likely be drafted. It is also possible that he will not be selected in the draft. However, it is clear that he has room to grow, as he has grown into the No. 4 player at Keio University after a six-year gap. If the team is not interested in him as an immediate starter but rather as a promising player, there may be a team interested in him at the lower end of the draft.

Which team, exactly?

If there were to be a pick, the team that would be the frontrunner until the summer would be Chunichi. The manager, Kazuyoshi Tachinami, is Kazuhiro’s junior at PL Gakuen. Kazuhiro Tatsunami threw out the first pitch at a Giants game this past July, showing the depth of his friendship with the team. However, with Tatsunami’s decision to step down as manager, Shogo’s chances of winning the job may be slim.

Parent and Child Debut

There is a team that is increasingly rumored to be in the running to replace Chunichi.

It is Seibu, Kazuhiro’s old team. This season, Seibu has suffered 91 losses and is in last place in the standings, and their fan base is growing increasingly distant. The team batting average of .212 and 60 home runs are both the worst in the league. Shogo, with his name recognition and potential, would be the perfect catalyst to restore popularity and revive the batting lineup.

His father, Kazuhiro, is also a major factor. Some people think that Kazuhiro, who has a history of arrests, may have a compliance problem, but the baseball team seems to think that he has purified himself. （With the departure of Kazuo Matsui and Hisanobu Watanabe, Seibu will be reassured if Kazuhiro’s ties to the team’s alumni are strengthened. The possibility of a “father-son debut” with Kazuhiro serving as temporary coach is not zero.

It is not unusual for a team’s policy to change at the last minute during a draft meeting. It is hard to tell without opening the door, but there is no doubt that Shogo has a promising and attractive future.