In April, the “Sanyo Frontier League”, a league game for school children’s baseball, began in Kurashiki City, Okayama Prefecture. At the opening ceremony, while elementary school students were paying attention, there was a former player who threw a hard ball in the uniform of Yokohama DeNA BayStars. Naoki Shirane who played at Softbank, DeNA.
He is now the general manager of the schoolchildren team “Fukuyama West” in Fukuyama City, Hiroshima Prefecture, who participated in the league match.
A baseball life full of ups and downs at the age of 29
Although only 29 years old, Naoki Shirane, who is from Matsue City, Shimane Prefecture, has a lot of ups and downs in his baseball life.
“I used to play baseball until junior high school. I entered the local Kaisei High School and had him put on the bench from the spring tournament, and from the fall of the first grade, I was given an ace number. From there, I threw everything in the starting lineup. Director Naomichi Nonomura said, “Get experience,” but I was very happy. One year senior, Kento Itohara of Hanshin was now the number one player.
Even for batters, I wasn’t used to playing hardball at the beginning of school-I was worried because my hands hurt and I didn’t fly, but maybe I got the hang of it from the end of the first grade, and the hitting ball started to fly. “
He participated in Koshien in the spring and summer of 2nd year, and hit a home run in the summer tournament. “I was surprised myself, but I went to Koshien even when I was in the third grade, and I think that the batters were more interested in this time.” Shirane, who recalls this, became known by the nickname “Gian of Sanin” among high school baseball fans.
“It feels like I’ve begun to be told (with Gian in the Sanin) around the fall of the year when I won the Chinese tournament and participated in the Jingu tournament. I don’t have it, but I think that the gesture was so terrible that it started to appear on the net.
In the spring of the second grade, it seems that professional scouts came to see it before they were selected. I came to the director and coach, but I didn’t notice at all. “
I had “subjective symptoms” in my elbows since I was in high school 2.
Director Naomichi Nonomura during the Kaisei era is said to have focused on “spiritual theory.”
“Anyway, I was told to” stick to the win. “Whether the point difference was 10-0 or 15-0, I threw it to the end. After the third grade, other pitchers in the cold game. I sometimes left it to him, but he was almost alone. It seems that the scouts were also evaluated as pitchers, but at that time he was fat, so he said, “Is that your body okay? “It seems that there was also a reputation.”
