Former Draft Candidate and Keio University Graduate Sends Support to Shogo Kiyohara

Before putting together a 18-member team

There was no draft pick in the third round either, but surprisingly, he felt a sense of relief.

“I felt a sense of relief, like ‘Finally, it’s over.’ I had the desire to turn professional, but there was also a feeling of needing to give it my all because of all the people who had supported me. So, in a way, I was relieved.”

After finishing his last season as a baseball player and putting away his bat, he quickly started a new chapter by joining an IT company in January the following year. He had always wanted to start his own business, but after being approached with an enticing offer, he joined a company that provided marketing support to other businesses. One year later, the owner of his former team, Tokushima Indigo Socks, invited him to become the team’s president.

“Even after I retired, I regularly met with the owner, discussing ideas like ‘How can we improve things?’ Then, one day, he said, ‘Come join us.’ When I started my job, I had shared my long-term goal of wanting to start a business, but it had only been a year, so I was uncertain. However, the company president encouraged me, saying, ‘Go ahead,’ and that gave me the confidence to make the decision.”

During his three years as the team representative, there were many things he saw that he hadn’t noticed as a player.

“The salary of independent league players is largely supported by money from local companies who want them to boost the community, rather than from playing baseball itself. I wanted players to understand this better. Personally, there were times when I felt tired during community activities as a player, but when I saw players who were tired yet still performed energetically in front of children, I became even more grateful as a staff member.”

Around the third year of his tenure as team representative, he finally decided to start his own company.

“Through discussions about my previous work experience, I was asked for help in a completely different business from the baseball team, and that led me to think, ‘If that’s the case, I’ll start a company.’ So, I launched my business in 2021.”

After fulfilling his three-year commitment to the team owner, he stepped down as team representative to focus solely on his newly established company.

“Talking to baseball-loving clients about my experiences has been really exciting. My current business focuses on content marketing to support companies in recruitment and promotion. We help businesses increase applications, inquiries, and purchases through owned media and recruitment websites. Along with consulting and content creation, we also launched our own recruitment media, ‘Elamek,’ in January. Until September last year, I had a registered company but operated it almost like a sole proprietorship, doing most things by myself. However, since October, I’ve started bringing in team members to grow the company. We currently have three employees and around 15 contractors. There’s a stronger sense of responsibility now, and I feel a pressure to create sales and profits, which makes me work even harder.”

Having gone through many experiences as a baseball player and started off smoothly in his professional life, does Yada have any words of advice for Kiyohara Seigo, who is about to enter society?

“Our situations and positions are completely different, so I don’t want to seem presumptuous giving advice. But I believe he’s going to hear a lot of different things from people. With that, there’s pressure to be watched closely in everything he does, which must be difficult. I met Kiyohara briefly at a baseball clinic when he was in elementary school, but I never met him during his university years. However, I’ve watched him play from the stands. He’s big, powerful, and I always thought he was a great player. He has star potential. Last year’s draft, I was paying attention to what would happen with him. I wished they’d pick him up. I really wanted to see him succeed in NPB. I thought it’d be great if he went to teams like Seibu or Giants. As a fan, I would’ve loved to see ‘4th batter, first baseman Kiyohara.'”

“However, even though I wanted to see him go pro, I didn’t want that in a way that meant he had to give up on baseball. I know how tough and painful the social leagues can be. There are difficult aspects in independent leagues as well. I can sense that he’ll succeed in society, and I’ll continue to support him.”

Having reached a point where he can openly talk about the struggles of those days with an easy smile, it’s likely that Yada’s satisfaction from having done his best helps him do so. One day, we look forward to hearing Kiyohara Seigo talk about his time as a baseball player with a smile.