Playback ’15] When “Shohei Otani of NIHAM” was aiming for his second consecutive “Double 2” in Kamagaya

What did “FRIDAY” report 10, 20, or 30 years ago? Playback Friday” takes a look back at the topics that were hot at the time. This time, we look back 10 years ago at the January 9 and 16, 2003, issue of FRIDAY, with the wide feature “2015: Keep Challenging, 11 People Who Will Change Nippon ! 　 Nippon no Changen wo Changen 11 Jinin (11 People Who Will Change Nippon),” we introduce ” Nippon Ham’s Shohei Otani (20): Double-Double, Double-Digit Wins and Home Runs for Second Straight Year, 15 Wins and 20 Home Runs! from “The 11 People Who Will Change Nippon.

This is a wide-ranging feature that picks up 11 people in various fields who are expected to make even greater strides in 2003. Otani, who became the first Japanese to hit a double-double (double-digit wins and home runs) in his second year of professional baseball in 2002, was featured along with Koizumi Shinjiro, Abe Hifumi, and film director Yamazaki Takashi. (Descriptions in parentheses are taken from past articles.)

Not content with “first Japanese double two

Shohei Otani continues to train quietly at the practice field in Kamagaya, Chiba Prefecture. While many of his fellow players are chatting and laughing with each other, Otani is not hanging out with them.

In ’14, he became the first Japanese player to hit a double-double (double-digit wins and home runs), but he is not satisfied with it. He said, “It’s meaningless to have a double-double for only one year. I can get more wins and homers. My goals are 15 wins and 20 home runs (11 wins, 4 losses, and 10 home runs in 2002). He is also discussing with Manager Hideki Kuriyama how to use Otani next season.

On December 20, Kuriyama unveiled a plan to encourage Otani to take on the challenge.

He said, “I may have him pitch in the middle of the season in zero days.

Ohtani has been on a schedule of two days out and two days rest as a fielder. But next season, he will try pitching on the day after his first appearance as a fielder. That would increase his winning streak even more.

Manager Kuriyama said he had considered using Otani in the field the day after he pitches. At the time, it took Otani 23 at-bats to hit one home run, faster than Hideki Matsui’s 28 in his second year. Simple calculation shows that the more games he plays in, the more at-bats he will have. If he did so, he probably calculated that his goal of hitting 30 homers, let alone 20, might not be a dream.

Furthermore, Otani had increased his weight from 86 kg when he joined the team to 93 kg through muscle training. In October of the previous year, he had shown a remarkable increase in power, pitching at 162 km/h, which tied the official NPB record at the time. Because of this, Ohtani seemed confident in manager Kuriyama’s plan.

He said, “I’ve been on the field all year, and I’ve found a rhythm for my two-faced style. If he builds up his strength in the off-season, he can play in every game.

Otani, who has always said that he wants to challenge himself to do something that no one has ever done before, will try to achieve an unprecedented result in 2015.

In 2015, he was expected to play a more active role in the two-faced game.