Takeshi Shinjo’s “Small Baseball” Plan: Too Daring to Be True

Although we are still at the stage where the big bosses are playing the games with all the excitement, there is no denying the thinness of the field. The number of articles on Nippon Ham has been decreasing, partly because of the Beijing Olympics, but also because we cannot find any players who can be called the best,” said a desk clerk at an evening newspaper.

After getting through six games against them at 50%, manager Tsuyoshi Shinjo (50) decided to replace a large number of 10 players. The shape of Big Boss Baseball was beginning to dimly emerge.

Kotaro Kiyomiya, 22, who used to love persimmons so much that he ate 10 a day, decided to cut out persimmons from his diet during the off-season. When Big Boss heard that he had turned down an acquaintance who had been sending him boxes of “Shonai persimmons,” which are popular for their sweetness, Big Boss was deeply moved. He fixed Kiyomiya, who had responded to his weight-loss directive, at first. Ryota Igata (23) will replace Haruki Nishikawa (29) as the speedster, and Nakamasa Mannami (21) will take the place of Taiji Ota (31).

Kensuke Kondo (28) is the only one who can bat fourth, and the only youngster who seems likely to take his place is Ryohei Hosokawa (19), who bounced back a hard fastball from Akinori Sasaki (20) in a practice game.

The only youngster who looks like he could win a spot is Ryohei Hosokawa (19), who bounced a hard fastball off Akinori Sasaki (20) in a practice game. They play small-base ball, making full use of stolen bases and base hits to protect the one run they score on a no-hit bid, and it suits their spacious home base, the Sapporo Dome. The team should be aiming for the Chunichi team under the Ochiai administration, which won the championship with a team batting average of just above 20%. If Kiyomiya can turn into a big hitter with this, it will be a profitable venture.

Can the fans feel the romance too?

From the March 11, 2022 issue of FRIDAY