Roki Sasaki (22), the “perfect pitcher” of Nippon Professional Baseball’s Chiba Lotte, held a training session on the first day of spring camp, putting aside controversies such as his off-season move to the major leagues and salary negotiations.
Chiba Lotte kicked off its spring camp on March 1 at the Ishigaki City Central Sports Park baseball field on Ishigaki Island in Okinawa, Japan. According to Japanese media outlets, Sasaki ran and stretched on the indoor training field and later participated in a team drill where he hit a ground ball to the infield.
He then played catch for about 20 minutes at a distance of about 50 meters. Sasaki did not throw out of the bullpen today, which he said “might happen soon.”
After the workout, 토토사이트 Sasaki spoke to Japanese reporters about his goals for this year, saying, “Last year’s season was not a satisfactory result, so I want to surpass last year’s performance.
Sasaki went 7-4 with a 1.78 ERA last year.
Despite his stellar ERA, he was limited to 15 games (91 innings) during the season due to a blistered finger and a strained side muscle. He was unable to complete a regulation inning.
Chiba Lotte will play its home opener against Nihon Ham for the first time in five years this year. Sasaki also expressed his desire to pitch on opening day. “I’m very excited and looking forward to the opening game at home for the first time. I think it would be great to pitch on opening day, and I want to prepare for that,” Sasaki said of his thoughts on starting on opening day.
Last year’s spring training camp saw Sasaki quickly improve his physical condition ahead of the World Baseball Classic (March). This year, I can build my body normally.
Sasaki, who came into the camp in good shape through off-season personal training, said, “My goal for this year’s camp is to build my body and make adjustments for the actual game. “I haven’t talked to the manager yet, so I don’t know when I’ll be throwing specifically,” he said. “When I start pitching out of the bullpen, I think it would be good to gradually increase the number of pitches while cherishing the feeling of pitching,” he added.
Sasaki remained a controversial topic until late January.
Sasaki unexpectedly requested a major league posting in early December last year. Chiba Lotte refused to allow him to do so. When a player under the age of 25 reaches the major leagues, he is not allowed to sign a big contract under the International Amateur Contract Rules. The club could not sacrifice itself for Sasaki’s wishes. Sasaki didn’t contribute much to the team after joining Chiba Lotte, as he pitched innings in relief. Sasaki never played a full season after joining the team.
For the first time in his career, Sasaki didn’t sign a contract until the end of December. With no progress on a contract a week before the start of spring training, 안전 토토사이트 public opinion of Sasaki was not favorable. It was even reported that Sasaki had withdrawn from the Nippon Professional Baseball Organization. It wasn’t until the 26th of last month that he finally signed a contract for the same annual salary as last year, 80 million yen, and joined the spring training camp as normal.