Hotaka Yamakawa (Seibu), who hit a home run against Koo Chang-mo (NC) at the 2017 APBC (Asia Professional Baseball Championship), fell into a slump ahead of the WBC (World Baseball Classic). I hit a good ball at camp, but when I go into the practice game, I can’t feel it. In the end, with less than a week left before the tournament, I decided to change my bat.
The Japanese WBC team played a total of four practice matches against the Softbank Hawks on the 25th and 26th of last month, and against the Chunichi Dragons on the 3rd and 4th of this month. With Shohei Ohtani (Angels), Lars Nutba (St. Louis), and Masataka Yoshida (Boston) missing, he scored 18 points in 4 games and recorded 3 wins and 1 loss, but it is difficult to see that the other lineup has survived. Most of all, batters who expected long hits are silent.
Tetsuto Yamada (Yakult), who came out as the first hitter in three games, was hitless in nine at-bats, and Murakami Munetaka (Yakult), who kept the fourth hitter in all four games, also stayed with one hit in 12 at-bats.
In particular, Yamakawa could not raise his head with 12 hits, 1 walk, and 3 strikeouts. The home run hitter who won the Pacific League home run king with 41 home runs last year is unable to even reach base, let alone hit long. Yamakawa issued an emergency measure ahead of the season, saying that the new bat he ordered seemed to be the cause.먹튀검증
According to Japan’s Daily Sports, Yamakawa pledged to rebound, saying, “To be honest, the bat was too light, so I changed it to the one I used last year. I’ll try to get it back.” He originally used a 920 gram bat, but this camp he started using a lighter 900 gram bat.
Although there were no hits, he emphasized that there is no problem in adapting to pitching. At the same time, he said, “I want to match the feel with a heavy bat. I will contact the factory tomorrow.”
He admired Ohtani’s batting practice from behind the cage before the match. Yamakawa laughed, saying, “I knew (about Ohtani’s hitting) because we played together in the Pacific League. But the level has gone up. Now it’s not a match. I feel like I have to say ‘goodbye’.”