Published on January 16, 2020.
The author argues that Roki Sasaki possesses extraordinary natural talent, especially in the way he uses his elbow and the suppleness shown even during catch.
He criticizes the overuse culture of high school baseball, the hypocrisy of the Asahi Shimbun-sponsored Koshien tournament, and Kiyoshi Nakahata’s careless remarks, insisting that such a rare talent must never be destroyed by outdated “fighting spirit” coaching.

January 16, 2020
With that, it is only natural that he can throw a blazing fastball well over 160 kilometers per hour with ease.
If we speak only of him as a pitcher, it would not be an exaggeration to say that he is a greater talent than Ohtani.
About baseball.
I have loved baseball ever since I became aware of the world.
In class matches and the like when I was in junior high school, I served as the ace and batted fourth.
The beginning of my becoming a Nagashima fan goes back to when he was still a student at Rikkyo University.
It was when I was a child.
I went to watch a game at Miyagi Stadium between the Sendai Railway Bureau and Rikkyo University, whose ace was Sugiura, whose second baseman was Motoyashiki, and whose third baseman was Nagashima.
It is well known that Nakahata, who is from the neighboring prefecture of Fukushima, is also a great Nagashima fan.
However, his remarks on TV Tokyo’s Sports Watcher are truly unacceptable.
A man who was naturally frivolous has become a television geisha and makes remarks that one would hardly expect from a person connected with professional baseball.
Last year, anyone who knows baseball understood that Roki Sasaki, the pitcher from Ofunato High School, was an extraordinary talent who, as a pitcher, might even be greater than Ohtani.
When his manager decided not to let him pitch in the final of the local qualifying tournament for last summer’s Koshien tournament, I was truly relieved.
The reason goes without saying.
High school baseball is merely something transient, and for those who are truly blessed with baseball talent, everything lies in being active in the professional world.
We, too, will continue every year to watch their outstanding skills until they retire.
And yet Nakahata, on television, incredibly criticized this manager’s decision.
He said, “He should have been made to pitch…”
At that moment, I not only thought that Nakahata was a hopeless fool, but I also lost all desire to watch the summer Koshien tournament at once.
That is because I felt the utmost contempt and an unforgivable anger.
I had felt delight at the decision of the Ofunato High School manager, but when I learned that he had made him throw 190 pitches! in the semifinal the previous day, my delight was not only reduced by half.
I became disillusioned with the way high school baseball is, and with high school baseball itself.
I felt the utmost anger toward the deception and hypocrisy of the Asahi Shimbun, the tournament’s organizer.
Justin Verlander, now one of the best pitchers in the majors, is almost of the same generation as Matsuzaka.
Even now, he continues to pitch with brilliant sharpness and remains one of Major League Baseball’s leading power pitchers.
On the other hand, Matsuzaka, who was likewise a power pitcher, was able to perform even after crossing over to Major League Baseball for only a few years.
After injuring his shoulder, there is no longer any hope of the velocity he once had.
His pitching at Koshien is treated as a beautiful story in Japan, but in the United States it is sheer madness.
The other day, the program mentioned above broadcast the first practice of Roki Sasaki, who had joined Lotte.
He says that he does not like running, that he is poor at it.
Even while he was gasping for breath and his form was breaking down badly, he did not finish last, but crossed the finish line in the middle of the group.
Watching this, Nakahata commented that it might be better to train him in the second team.
However, other stations also broadcast footage of him running with proper form.
For some reason, TV Tokyo showed him at the moment he reached the finish line.
After a long period off, he had suddenly begun professional training, so it was only natural that his chin had come up.
Contrary to Nakahata’s astonishing remark,
I received a shock unlike any I had experienced in all my years of watching baseball.
It was the scene of him playing catch that was broadcast.
I have never seen a pitcher who could use his elbow like that!
It was the greatest shock I have ever received in all my years of watching baseball.
With that, it is only natural that he can throw a blazing fastball well over 160 kilometers per hour with ease.
If we speak only of him as a pitcher, it would not be an exaggeration to say that he is a greater talent than Ohtani.
The way he used his elbow, and its suppleness, were that shocking, yet did Nakahata fail to notice it at all?
After all, perhaps he is the type of person who should remain like a lotus flower in the field.
That such a Nakahata managed Yokohama is the reality of Japanese baseball.
I do not think that Iguchi, who as a major leaguer experienced winning the World Series and displayed superhuman plays, could possibly be a mere wooden block like Nakahata.
Still, I became somewhat worried.
I thought that if the baseball world were the sort of place that could ruin such an extraordinary talent, it would be beyond discussion.
Baseball players are not track-and-field athletes.
For a pitcher, how fast a ball he can throw is, first of all, the highest priority of the profession.
It goes without saying that all true great pitchers are the result of having been blessed with natural talent.
In other words, true great hitters and great pitchers are geniuses in the world of baseball.
The foolishness of ordinary talents coaching them by so-called fighting-spirit theory and thereby ruining them must absolutely never be allowed in the case of Roki Sasaki, a rare talent of the greatest class in history.
All the more so, talk of the second team and the like is outrageous beyond words.
Once his shoulder is ready and he stands on the mound, even at this point it would not be an exaggeration to say that there is not a single batter who can hit his ball traveling over 160 kilometers per hour.
To begin with, a ball over 160 kilometers per hour is physically impossible to hit.
It is no exaggeration at all to say that there is no batter who can hit his blazing fastball with that astonishing spin.
To make remarks about the second team and the like regarding such a pitcher…
Nakahata, if you are truly a good man, restrain yourself.
Talk less…
You should also read some books.