Seiki Nakanishi《Chunichi Dragons》 & Koichiro Oda 《Yokohama DeNA》 talk about “Jumping to the pros

Growth and Enthusiasm

On a tree-lined avenue at the Sagamihara Campus of Aoyama Gakuin University, the Dora 1 duo jumped high, vowing to make a leap forward as professionals. As many students looked on, Koichiro Oda, a shy infielder, said, “It’s quite embarrassing for a 22-year-old to jump (laughs),” while Seiki Nakanishi, the ace right fielder, spoke plainly of his enthusiasm.

I want to go into camp keeping in mind that I don’t want to get injured and miss the start. First of all, I want to play an active role in Japanese professional baseball. It would be great if I could play baseball for decades, but it won’t be that easy. I would like to continue to earnestly clear the goals that lie ahead of me, one day at a time.

Nakanishi was entrusted with the number “11,” which was carried by successive aces such as Kenshin Kawakami (50) after Nakanichi succeeded in catching him with a single pitch. A native of Kashihara City, Nara Prefecture, Nakanishi led Chiben Wakayama to the top of Japan in the summer of 2009 at the Koshien (Koshien) National High School Baseball Championship.

He is the No. 1 pitcher of his generation, a “Japan’s No. 1 Contractor” who throws a straight ball with a maximum velocity of 152 km/h and a fork and slider with great precision.

In the pros, you have to throw away the titles of number one in Japan in high school and college. I am not satisfied with my entry into the professional world, and I want to cling to this world and compete on the same level as the best players in Japan. I have a strong feeling that I am finally starting. I want people to focus on me from now on, not on my past self.”

Hitoshi Nakatani (46, former Hanshin, etc.), manager of Chiben Wakayama, looked back on Nakanishi’s high school days and said, “He was naughty. This was a surprising comment, given Nakanishi’s earnest approach to baseball.

He sometimes rebelled against what he was told because he could not accept what he was told. When I was a sophomore in high school, I was aiming for the Koshien with my favorite seniors, but we lost that in Corona. We made it to Koshien too, but it was a no-show and there was no cheering. I don’t think for a minute that I was able to grow …… because of Corona. I didn’t know what to aim for in high school.”

Before entering Aoyama Gakuin, he broke his right elbow and underwent Tommy John surgery. Of course, it came at a cost.

I couldn’t pitch for a year, and even when I was able to pitch, I had a lot of plate appearances that didn’t go well. My baseball career has been full of setbacks. But I think it was a necessary time for me to grow.

Aoyama Gaku, with a small elite group of about 10 players per grade, has led college baseball in recent years.

Because of the small number of players, there are many opportunities for them to take advantage of. The younger players also push up from the bottom, so I think the fact that we can’t be too proud improves the atmosphere of the entire club and strengthens it.”

The regular catcher for Aoyama Gakuin is Watanabe Umi, Nakanishi’s junior in high school, and the centerpiece of the ’26 draft. Predecessors who are selected in the first round of the DRA bring up juniors, who in turn give birth to new first round picks. Such a virtuous cycle has supported the Aoyama Gakuin era.

Oda, who is the same height as college senior Masanao Yoshida (32, Red Sox) at 173 cm, is small but has the charm of a shot, and was selected first overall by Yokohama DeNA after missing out on the winning pick of Rintaro Sasaki (20, Stanford University).

Ever since I was a kid, I always wanted to go to the pros,” he said. I have always wanted to be a professional baseball player. （Even when I was a student at Chukyo High School (a private school in Gifu), I didn’t feel that I was inferior to players who were considered to be professional players. From about the fall of my third year at university, I spent every day thinking about how I would perform in the pros. Before the draft, I secretly hoped to myself that if I was lucky, I might even be ranked No. 1 (laughs).”

Last year, Oda participated in the Japan-U.S. Collegiate Baseball Tournament as a member of the Samurai Japan Collegiate Team, and hit a home run in the first game played at Escondido Field in Hokkaido. As for his hitting, he has been referring to the batting of his seniors Yoshida and Kensuke Kondo (32, Fukuoka Softbank), left-handed hitters who have achieved results despite their short stature. It is true that Oda and Yoshida share the same type of batting, as they both rotate their bodies like a spinning top.

I sometimes wish I were taller and had longer arms and legs, but I thought there was a way for me to live even if I was not blessed with a good physique. There are many ways, such as bat control rather than power, and hitting speed that does not stall rather than distance to get past opposing outfielders. I think it is realistically difficult for me to hit homers in the opposite direction or to the back screen, so I want to improve the quality of what I can do.”

Off the clock, I’m an “indoor person.”

What is your goal for the first year?

My first goal is to be a starter in the first team for the season opener. In terms of numbers, my goal is to achieve a batting average of 30% or higher, but I know the world is not that easy. That said, I don’t think it would be the same as aiming for .280 (laughs), so I’ll set my goals at a .300 batting average and double-digit home runs.

As for his defense, he says he aims to be a high-level utility player.

I don’t want to play this position, but if I am asked to play outfield, I am prepared to play outfield as well. I want to be like Taisei Makihara (33) of Fukuoka Softbank, who can play various positions and hit well, and I want to be a valuable player in the baseball world.

Oda says that when he was in college, he did not actively go out on his days off.

I’m not the active type. I never did anything that would affect baseball, such as going to a theme park …… and walking around all day.

Nakanishi is no different in that he spends his days off from practice relaxing. He spent his days watching movies in his room or sleeping to recover his energy.

I only watch dubbed versions of foreign films,” he said. I don’t like to watch too many subtitles because it tires my eyes. （Yasunori Ando, 48, the coach at Aoyama Gakuin, often tells us that the off-season is a preparation time for the next practice session. For example, if we use muscles we don’t use for baseball on days when we don’t practice and get sore muscles, it will affect our baseball game. That is something we absolutely have to avoid. I think Koichiro and myself are the type of people who are not obsessive when it comes to anything other than baseball.”

Perhaps he means that as a baseball player, he should devote all his time to baseball. Nakanishi will join Chunichi, where Hiroto Takahashi, 23, is one year older than him and will be a close rival.

He is a very powerful pitcher and has a lot of things I don’t have. I want to talk to him a lot and learn from him.”

Nakanishi’s strong point is his “total power.

I don’t have a ball that is particularly noteworthy, but I would like to show off my total power, including my ability to find the best strategy on the mound and my ability to fine-tune my pitches according to the characteristics of the batter.

The ace and the mainstay of the Aoyama Gakuin baseball team, both of whom have achieved the goal of becoming Japan’s No. 1 baseball team, will now face each other in the Central League.

From the January 30/February 6, 2026 issue of FRIDAY