The words and actions of a famous general who changed the life of baseball
Tomoya Satozaki talks about Bobby Valentine Part 2Read from the first part >>
Tomoya Satozaki, who has been active as a regular catcher at Lotte for a long time under the direction of Bobby Valentine. From 2007 to 2009, we asked Satozaki, who led the team as a captain, about “Bobby-style” baseball and how to utilize human resources, which led the sluggish team to the top in Japan.
Valentine’s director eating “Valentine’s lunch” released at the stadium in 2004 photo by Sankei Visual
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–Did you discover anything new while playing baseball with Valentine’s coach for the six years from 2004 to 2009?
Tomoya Satozaki (hereinafter: Satozaki)Even if I marked a smashing award, even if I hit a home run, the next day was a holiday, the interval of the starting rotation that was being rotated by 6 people did not shift, and it was refreshing to “fight while resting”. In recent years, resting has become a rational idea in professional baseball, but it was a rare case at that time.
Until then, professional baseball had the impression of being a “super runaway horse” when compared to horse racing. The idea is that if you run with all your strength with “Yoi Don!” And get sick, you will “not have enough practice from the camp.” In the United States, on the other hand, in all sports, the team is at its peak for the playoffs. In other words, it is a “driving horse”.
――The general view is that professional baseball will become physically difficult in August due to the heat, but wasn’t Lotte at that time?
SatozakiI agree. When I was active, I was often asked by reporters, “Isn’t it physically tight in August?”, But I answered, “It’s not tight at all.” Then, mysteriously asked, “Why is that?”, “Because the first half of the game is absent” (laughs). Recently, each team has been doing reliever pitching up to two consecutive pitches, but Bobby has been practicing it for over 15 years. With that in mind, Japanese baseball is far behind.
Lotte now operates an American-style pitcher, partly because Masato Yoshii is a pitcher coach for the 1st Army. Seibu is also resting when Taira (Kaima) throws two or three times in a row, and so is Softbank. In the olden days, it was common for closer pitchers to throw long pitches. Regardless of which one is better when only considering the point of winning.
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