Roki Sasaki, a pitcher who has achieved the youngest perfect game in the history of Nippon Professional Baseball and is known as the “Monster of Reiwa,” is making a noise all over Japan. The 20-year-old from Iwate Prefecture, who is the same as Shohei Ohtani, who dominates the major leagues with “dual wield”, had a great impact on the baseball world not only in terms of his extraordinary ability as a pitcher but also in terms of sound development. Looking back behind the scenes of the pitching avoidance turmoil about three years ago when Koshien was missed, we will examine the magnitude of the impact Sasaki had on the Japanese baseball world.
“Reiwa’s monster” that finally showed its true value
The Japanese baseball world is now all over the topic of Roki Sasaki.
Born in Rikuzentakata City, Iwate Prefecture, Sasaki has experienced the tragedy of losing his father and grandparents due to the tsunami damage in the 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake. became. And, just over two years after joining Chiba Lotte Marines, the existence of Sasaki is about to change even the common sense of the ball world.
In the match against Orix Buffaloes on April 10, he achieved a perfect game at the youngest age of 20 years and 5 months, and set a new record of 13 consecutive strikeouts. He took a total of 19 strikeouts from the Orix strikeout with only two types of fastballs, a straight with a maximum of 164 km and a forkball with a large head in the high 140 km range. He tends to overlook behind the feat, but this was Sasaki’s first complete game since he became a professional.
Also, in the next pitching against the Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters on the 17th of the same month, Sasaki continued to pitch completely up to 8 times, and the number of pitches exceeded 100, so director Tadahito Iguchi was replaced. I told the pitcher. He was supposed to drop out just before the feat of a perfect game for two consecutive games, but Sasaki’s pitching, which left such a strong impact, quickly reached the world and became a storm of praise again.
The ever-increasing degree of attention also leads to unexpected uproar. Kazuyuki Shirai, who received that Sasaki was dissatisfied with the decision at the Orix match on the 24th of the same month, rushed to Sasaki while saying something. At this time as well, criticisms were gathered that Shirai’s attitude toward young people was “not very popular” and “arrogant” rather than Sasaki’s behavior.
The fastest straight from a blessed limb with a height of 190 cm is 164 km. It is said that the update of the NPB record of 166 km set by Thyago Vieira (giant) in 2009 is also a matter of time (April 10, 2022, Chiba ZOZO Marine Stadium).
Immediately after, Director Iguchi pitched in five games so far, canceled the registration of Sasaki, who had the most three wins in the team, and gave him a rest. This is a consideration to avoid the onset of injuries due to fatigue for Sasaki, who has been in rotation for the first year since the opening.
By the time he graduated from Ofunato High School, Sasaki’s body had not stopped growing and became a professional baseball player without being able to train satisfactorily. It can be said that not only the leaders of Chiba Lotte but also the fans are aware of the price of throwing a fastball over 160 km with such a body, and they are warmly watching the growth of Sasaki.
Therefore, there was no criticism of Director Iguchi, who ordered him to leave the game while he was about to play a perfect game for two consecutive games. In the 2007 Japan Series, it is a big difference from when Chunichi Dragons director Hiromitsu Ochiai (at that time) dropped Daisuke Yamai, who had been doing perfect pitching up to eight times, and was bashed.
Avoiding pitching three years ago when he threw a stone in high school baseball
Protecting the body of future players from breakdowns rather than achieving a record-it is largely due to the decision of one high school baseball manager that brought about such a change in consciousness in the baseball world.
Yohei Kokubo, who taught Sasaki at Ofunato High School. Currently, he has retired from the coach and is the director, but in the 2019 Iwate tournament final when Sasaki was in the third year of high school, the commander Mr. Kuniho did not pitch Sasaki. At that time, Mr. Kuniho explained:
“The number of balls so far, the pitching interval, the temperature … I may have been in a state of being thrown, but I judged and did not let me throw. Of course, when I said” throw “, he said he threw it. I think, but I couldn’t make that decision. Depending on the development, I had no intention of raising it to the mound in the middle of the game. “
In other words, he avoided climbing Sasaki in order to prevent breakdowns, and did not appoint Sasaki, who had left the center pole of the No. 4 batting line, as a fielder.
Sasaki had thrown 194 balls by the 12th inning in the 4th round of Morioka. He also threw 129 balls in the semi-final Ichinoseki engineering match four days later. From the semi-final, the final will be a series of throws. Mr. Kuniho said.
“I thought I was at the greatest risk of injury in my third year of high school.”
However, while protecting Sasaki’s future, the school’s dream of Koshien for the first time in 35 years has come true. He lost 2 to 12 against the powerful private Hanamaki Higashi. Former director of Chiben Wakayama, Hitoshi Takashima, who won a total of 68 wins in Koshien, responded to the interview at that time.
“I would take the player’s” now “. The manager over there (Ofunato) took the” future “. I think that’s all. But are the players convinced by that? That’s the point. If I did it, I tried not to use it as much as possible in the process leading up to the final, and let me pitch in the final in perfect condition. “
Sasaki (July 25, 2019, Iwate Prefectural Baseball Stadium) current affairs
Japanese high school baseball players will compete in local competitions in July. In prefectures with many member schools, you have to win about 6 to 7 games. And at the National High School Baseball Championship, which will be held for 17 days (including rest days) at Hanshin Koshien Stadium in August, a maximum of 6 games will be played. Big tournaments peculiar to Japan are contested in a short period of time during the hot season, so public schools that do not have a large player base tend to rely on ace. In other words, the director has no choice but to “heart with Ace”.
Fans also longed for the solitary ace that defended the mound in the scorching sun, and many stars were born. Daisuke Matsuzaka of Yokohama High School (Kanagawa), who achieved consecutive championships in the spring and summer in 1998, and Daisuke Komadai Tomakomai (South Hokkaido) in 2006, could not compete in the 15th extension and achieved national domination at the end of the rematch. Yuki Saito and others from Waseda Jitsugyo (West Tokyo).
However, Mr. Kuniho did not choose “Ace and Shinju”.
In making the decision, Mr. Kuniho did not explain much to Sasaki himself and the other nines. If you explain, Sasaki complains that he wants to throw, and other players also beg for Sasaki’s pitching. If that happens, the flow to pitching is inevitable. Mr. Kuniho decided to avoid pitching Sasaki at his own discretion, and after the big defeat, he took the brunt of himself and became a bad guy.
Whether the decision of the 32-year-old (at that time) youth coach Kuniho was deciding or self-righteous, it became a national debate immediately after the match, but the pros and cons swirled, but that day’s final was decided. There is no doubt that has changed the “common sense” of high school baseball.
From “Ace and Shinju” to the era of “relief pitcher”
Except for one school that participated in Koshien in the summer of 2019, they won the local tournament by appointing multiple pitchers. When the tournament started, schools with reliever pitchers that appointed multiple pitchers became conspicuous, and the fighting style that avoided the continuous pitching of ace became the mainstream. At Koshien in the summer of the previous year, Akita Kanaashi Agricultural Ace Yoshida Kosei (currently Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters) threw himself from the local tournament to the middle of the Koshien final. Only a year later, a ball child like Yoshida disappeared from Koshien.
And, due to the ball number limit of “up to 500 balls per week” introduced from Senbatsu in the spring of 20 (the actual introduction was in the spring of 21 due to the cancellation of the tournament due to Korona-ka), “the ace will not be thrown” and “the starting pitcher will be the starting pitcher”. It is becoming more commonplace to appoint players such as.
Even in Senbatsu this spring, there was an event in which Urawa Gakuin (Saitama), who had won the semi-finals, did not let the leading ace left arm, Konan Miyagi, be thrown. At a meeting on the evening of the day after the quarter-finals, 31-year-old young coach Dai Mori explained to Nine that “the semi-finals will not let you throw a single ball.”
The era when “Ace and Shinju” is regarded as a good story in high school baseball has come to an end. The director who abuses the ace is the subject of criticism, while the director who pays attention to the condition of the pitcher’s shoulders and elbows is the one who gains support, and the ability to train multiple pitchers and win in reliever is the director. It has become an era when people are asked.
Even if Sasaki had pitched in the final of the Iwate tournament that day, Sasaki might not have been injured. However, at the decision of Mr. Kuniho, all over Japan recognized the risk that a growing high school ball would be thrown a ball over 160 kg. Therefore, Chiba Lotte, who welcomed Sasaki in the first place in the draft, did not rush to pitch in the actual battle while accompanying Sasaki in the first year with the first army, and thoroughly built his body. Sasaki pitched for the first time in an external match in his second year and made his debut in May. He achieved a perfect game early in his third season and is now the ace of Chiba Lotte.
Kuniho’s decision to protect Sasaki’s future has spread to the baseball world, and no one has denied that day’s command. And every baseball fan hopes that the Reiwa monster will make a leap forward as a national treasure.
Banner photo: Sasaki (April 10, 2022, Chiba / ZOZO Marine Stadium), the youngest player in the history of professional baseball, to achieve a perfect game with 19 strikeouts (Japan record Thailand) and receive a blessing.
