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Ryoji Kuribayashi, pitcher in Hiroshima The tension at the mound changes drastically! ??The real face revealed immediately after acquiring the rookie king | NHK Sports

December 15, 2021. “NPB AWARDS” was held at a hotel in Tokyo, and the Central League Most Valuable Rookie Award (Rookie King) was announced. Pitcher Ryoji Kuribayashi, the guardian deity of Hiroshima, was selected.

NHK conducted an independent interview with Kuribayashi immediately after the award. The listener is Mei Soejima, a newscaster of Saturday / Sunday Sports. Kuribayashi joined the team in 1st place in the draft this season. From the first year, he was pitched in 53 games and set a record of 37 saves, which is the largest number of newcomers, and 22 games in a row from the opening, which is a new record for the team. The ERA is an amazing 0.86. As a closer at the Tokyo Olympics, he became the guardian deity of Japan and contributed greatly to the gold medal. (As of December 15, 2021)

Looking back on the “100-point season”

Soejima) Congratulations on winning the rookie king. Immediately after the award, how do you feel now?

Kuribayashi) I feel happy and relieved. I’m glad I got the rookie king.

Soejima) How long did you wonder how long you could go?

Kuribayashi) Well, I didn’t know what would happen until the very end. At the beginning of the season, Mr. Sato of Hanshin was active by one head, and Mr. Maki of DeNA was very active in the red and white battle, so I did not have time to shine a spotlight on myself, so I think that I can take it at all. I didn’t.

Soejima) However, this season was an activity that I couldn’t think of as a rookie. How do you perceive your first year as a professional baseball player?

Kuribayashi) Is it a year that is too good? I don’t think I was expected so far, so I think it’s been a year that was disappointing in a good way. After all, many people say, “I think it will be difficult for me to achieve more than this year in my future baseball life.” In that sense, I think I was disappointed in a really good way.

Soejima) How many points out of 100?

Kuribayashi) I think it’s okay to give 100 points. I don’t think I can get this grade even if I try again, so I can say that I have already scored 100 points.

Soejima) With 81 strikeouts in 52 innings and 1/3 innings, it was the top-level number among closer pitchers.

Kuribayashi) I think strikeout is the best way to get out. I don’t often aim from the beginning, but when I get two strikes or when the count is advantageous, I go to strike out. As a result, if there are three strikeouts, I think it’s the best way to finish. Director Sasaoka also said, “One of the conditions for a pitcher who plays a closer is to be able to strike out,” and I was able to choose one of them, so I would like to strike out.

“Tension is a messy type” Kuribayashi’s unexpected real face

Soejima) At what timing did you leave the closer in the first place?

Kuribayashi) The last open game at the beginning of the season, the open game around the end of March, was Softbank’s three consecutive games, but in the first game of those three games, the director called me to take over as a closer. It was a year in which I felt a lot of pressure and fought, perhaps because my life was shortened, or because there were really important matches going on, so I felt nervous in that sense.

Soejima) I can do it as a closer this season! Which match did you feel confident about?

Kuribayashi) I’m still convinced that there is still a match, and I’m still worried, and if possible, I think it’s best to win without having a turn.

Soejima) Eh! You usually want to throw it, right?

Kuribayashi) No, I didn’t want to throw it, especially at the end. I was scared, and there was a time when the team could go to the climax series at the end, so I felt that kind of pressure and of course I wanted to win, so there are things like that, but it turns around. If it came, I thought that if possible, I would like to come around with a point difference.

Soejima) also achieved amazing results.

Kuribayashi) I’m really scared to lose next. However, it has always been said that switching is important for professional baseball players, so in that sense, I thought it was important to switch when I lost.

November 1st Yakult Pitcher Kuribayashi lined up in the professional baseball record with the most saves for newcomers

Soejima) You’re still doing well after losing, right? Did you switch at that time?

Kuribayashi) It was difficult to switch, but I was the losing pitcher in the game where I got points for the first time, but my family came all the way to support me in the next game, so they support me like that. I think it was because of my family that I was able to re-recognize that, and I thought it would be useless if I was depressed and got bad results.

Soejima) Even if you look at it, I think the closer is mentally tough, but is it mentally strong?

Kuribayashi) No, I’m really weak in spirit. That’s why I kept my spirit by doing a lot of routines and practicing well to change my confidence. What I do in my routine is, for example, “the number of bullpen balls is fixed at 15”, “bow to the mound and enter”, or “enter the ground from the left foot”.

Soejima) A type that is unexpectedly nervous?

Kuribayashi) Tension is a messy type!

Soejima) Eh ~! !! I can’t see it at all!

Kuribayashi) Is that true? It’s a type that really appears on the face, and when I go to the mound, I’m really fooling around. Somehow, I’m really taking a lot of deep breaths. University coaches often said, “I’m too nervous.”

Soejima) How do you calm the situation?

Kuribayashi) I can’t calm down, so I’m accepting it anymore. Actually, on the contrary, I’m a little worried if I don’t have enough tension. I’m nervous, so I try to think “OK, I can do it.” If you are not nervous, you will end up trying to concentrate, which is often a bad result.

Soejima) Do you mean that you are dealing well with tension?

Kuribayashi) That’s right. I think that the consciousness of tension changes depending on whether the tension is taken positively or negatively. I tried to take the tension positively, such as “I’m nervous, so I can do it today” and “I’m focused today, so I can suppress it”, so I think that the probability of suppressing it has increased. increase.

What is the change in tension until you get 3 outs? ??

Soejima) Today, I have prepared such a table …

Kuribayashi) Strikeout tension graph!

Soejima) Kuribayashi pitcher 9 times tension graph. Could you please describe the change in tension until pitcher Kuribayashi gets 3 outs?

Kuribayashi) I understand. First … 100%, 120% …

It’s done!

Soejima) First of all, when you go up to the mound in the 9th inning, is it in a position that goes out of the graph?

Kuribayashi) That’s right. Especially in a severe situation where the point difference is 1 point difference or tie, I think that there is a high sense of tension, so I think that it often exceeds 100%. I think that the more nervous I am, the more I can concentrate, so I wonder if the higher my concentration, the higher the probability of getting out.

Soejima), if you take 1 out, the tension will settle down at once and it will be 20%. This is a surprise!

Kuribayashi) Especially if you get one out with the first batter, you can relax and throw it. I think it would be even higher if the first batter was a hit or a pinch from the beginning, but if the first batter could get one out firmly, he wouldn’t be nervous anymore and would be thrown relaxedly. After all, I have a strong feeling of anxiety until I get one out, so I’m very nervous. The expression fluffy may be correct, but I feel that way. I think the first one of the 9 times is the most important.

Soejima) What was the most tense match?

Kuribayashi) The tense match was the Olympic tiebreaker, no-out 1st and 2nd base, and that was a lot of tension. This season, I was the most nervous in my life. That mound is done as a representative of the Japanese ball world, so the people who protect it were amazing, so rather than my own power, I suppress it thanks to the people who protect it, including the catcher, and everyone who supported me. I think I was able to do it. When Masahiro Tanaka told me “I did it well” after it was over, I was very happy. I feel like I’ve got goose bumps, or something I’ve never seen before.

What are your goals for pitcher Kuribayashi in the future?

Soejima) I think you’ve achieved all your goals in the first year, but what kind of pitcher do you want to be?

Kuribayashi) The ideal pitcher is to be a pitcher that I can hold back and think that the other party is “no more”. I want to be a professional baseball player for as long as a year, so I would like to continue this year’s results and do it next season.

Soejima) Do you want to continue as a closer?

Kuribayashi) Right now, I feel that it’s worth 9 times, so I’d like to do it as a restraint. However, I feel like I want to experience the starting lineup at least once. Is it easier to do relief if you know the feelings of the starting pitcher in order to suppress it? After all, if I understand the thoughts of the starting pitcher, I wonder if I can prepare more for pitching and work harder, so in that sense I would like to experience it once.

Soejima) If so, how would you like to change this season’s corrections?

Kuribayashi) At the end of the season, I was often able to identify forkballs, so I thought I had to use forkballs that I could throw with confidence as a weapon throughout the year. I would like to work hard on this off-season as well. On the contrary, in the latter half of the game, I was able to successfully control the second half with different types of balls such as cut balls and curves, so in that sense, I will improve the level of the four types as a whole next season. I wish I could be welcomed.

Soejima) Finally, what are your goals for next season?

Kuribayashi) It’s a “one year closer”.

Kuribayashi) The goal of the team is to win the league and become the best in Japan, and I want to contribute to the victory of the team, so I want to fight as a closer for a year, and this year I failed in a save situation. I didn’t have anything to do, so I would like to do my best so that I can continue to do so next year. I would like to do my best in this off-season and camp so that I can achieve the same results as this season next season.

Saturday Sports / Sunday Sports

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