Lotte’s Naoya Masuda Reaches 250 Saves: The “Unknown Player” Who Grit His Teeth and Forged a Path to This “Great Achievement” Through Hardship
The Journey of a Man Who Wasn’t a “Baseball Elite”
“I’m relieved more than anything else. I was desperately trying to hold back my tears because I knew I couldn’t cry. After all, I caused the team some trouble (until I reached the milestone).”
Lotte’s Naoya Masuda (36) looks back on the moment (during the August 4 game against Seibu) when he recorded his 250th career save—the requirement for induction into the Japan Baseball Hall of Fame.
While five pitchers—including former Chunichi Dragons pitcher Hitoshi Iwase and former Yakult Swallows pitcher Shingo Takatsu—have reached 250 saves, Masuda’s achievement in his 795th game marks the latest in the history of the league. Last year, partly due to injuries, he struggled, recording just five saves. Masuda continues:
“I really should have reached this milestone last year… But when I look back, what comes to mind are mostly the games where I failed in relief. What kept me from losing heart were the fans’ cheers and my family. I’m truly grateful to my wife and children, who have always been on my side no matter what.”
Masuda is not a baseball elite. He turned pro after being selected in the lower rounds of the draft from a university that was virtually unknown nationwide. Even when faced with frustration, he gritted his teeth and, after overcoming many hardships, achieved this remarkable feat.
“In high school (Wakayama Municipal Commercial High School), I never made it to Koshien. On top of that, because I had a heart condition, even though I wanted to be a pitcher, I was considered a backup infielder due to concerns about the physical strain. I didn’t start thinking about turning pro until I was in college (Kansai International University), after my illness had healed and I’d gained confidence as a pitcher.In the spring of my sophomore year, I competed in the All-Japan University Baseball Championship, and in the semifinals, I held off the powerhouse Hosei University with a fastball clocked at 147–148 km/h. In the spring of my senior year, I posted a 0.75 ERA, the best in the Hanshin University League.”
Masuda was drafted by the Lotte Marines in the fall of 2011. However, he was the team’s fourth-round pick—the lowest in the draft. The other three players (Takahiro Fujioka, Yuhei Nakaushiro, and Daichi Suzuki) had all been members of the Japanese national university team.
“A lot of media gathered for the joint rookie training camp, but they only interviewed the top three draft picks. They never came to me. Even after practice ended, while those three were being asked for autographs by fans, I was the only one who would immediately ride my bike back to the dorm from Urawa (in Saitama, where the Lotte farm team’s stadium is located).
On one hand, I thought it was inevitable since I was unknown, but on the other, I had a secret determination. I didn’t want to fail to deliver results and have people think, ‘As expected, Masuda was the only one who couldn’t cut it.’ I didn’t want to lose—not to my peers, but to myself.”
“Don’t go home with your head down!”
Masuda has been quietly devoting himself to practice. On his heaviest days, he runs up to 10 km. Without taking a single day off, he runs over 100 km in two weeks.
“It gives me confidence to know, ‘I’m managing to put in this much work.’ Technically speaking, the pitching lessons I received from Coach Takashi Nishimoto (at the time) were a huge help. I was able to start attacking the inside corner against right-handed batters. Even top-tier hitters won’t be able to hit the ball easily if you keep attacking the inside corner.”
His hard work paid off, and Masuda was entrusted with the roles of setup man and closer starting in his rookie year (2012). He pitched in four consecutive games right from the season opener, contributing to the team’s four-game winning streak. In the roughly two months leading up to May, he recorded 14 holds.
“The coach would say, ‘Let’s go,’ and I’d take the mound—it was just a constant cycle of ‘I’m back.’ I was throwing the ball into the catcher’s mitt with complete single-minded focus. In the end, that worked out well. Since I wasn’t thinking about anything else, my body didn’t tense up unnecessarily, and I was able to throw with all my might.”
On July 18 of that same year, in a game against the Rakuten Eagles, an “incident” occurred that spurred his mental growth.
“I gave up two baserunners without getting a single out and was pulled from the game. I must have been feeling down after failing as a reliever. Saburo (the current manager) scolded me.‘The fielders are always watching your back. Don’t act weak. Even if you get hit, don’t walk off the field with your head down! You’re pitching as the team’s representative, so do it with dignity and pride!’
Saburo’s stern rebuke really hit home. That’s when it all started. I vowed to myself that no matter how down I felt or how many mistakes I made, I would never show a weak side on the field.”
I made a point of not letting the gloomy mood from getting hit hard spill over into my home life. In the opening series against SoftBank in March 2021, Masuda gave up walk-off hits in two consecutive games. The team suffered three straight losses to start the season.
“It was really frustrating.I flew from Fukuoka, where we’d been on the road, to Chiba, and then drove home… but I just didn’t want to see my family while I was still feeling so down. To try to shift my mindset, I parked my car in my driveway and stayed inside it the whole time. I think I was in the car for three or four hours. By the time I finally went inside, the date had already changed.
However, it’s precisely because I was able to overcome these bitter experiences that I was able to perform well afterward. When results don’t come, it’s easy to fall into a negative mindset. But you can’t achieve good results with a negative attitude. I kept pitching with the conviction that ‘It’ll be okay. What I’ve been doing so far isn’t wrong.’”
From the September 11 & 18, 2026, combined issue of *FRIDAY*
PHOTO： Hiroyuki Komatsu