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An unknown carpenter apprentice belonging to a club team joins Yakult. How did Tadashi Honma become a professional baseball player[Popular article in 2022]| Professional baseball | Shueisha’s general sports magazine Sportiva official website web Sportiva

In 2022, the sports world will be excited by various competitions such as the soccer World Cup. What kind of articles were read by many people at Sportiva? This year, we will republish popular articles that received a great response (distributed on October 25, 2022).
* The content of the article is as of the date of distribution.

Series “Why am I a professional baseball player!?”
Vol.9 Tadashi Honma Part 1

 Professional baseball is a world of the law of the law. It is a fiercely competitive society filled with elites who have been touted as child prodigies since childhood, but among them there is a person who has a unique career that makes you wonder, “Why did this player enter the professional world?” The series “Why am I a professional baseball player!?” Appearing in the ninth installment is Tadashi Homma (former Yakult), who became famous as a “drafted carpenter.” Behind the fact that an unknown club team pitcher became a professional, there were supporters and supporters who believed in unconscious talent.

Tadashi Homma was selected 6th by Yakult in the 1999 draft and achieved his long-awaited professional debut.
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The long-cherished Koshien participation did not come true

“Even though I have the talent, it’s a waste…”

Ryo Ohashi, a sports equipment store who frequents Nihon Bunri, sighed many times. At the end of his line of sight was Tadashi Honma, the school’s ace right-hand man.

Homma was a good pitcher who attracted attention in Niigata Prefecture. The fastball that was drawn out from the height of 186 cm got a lot of attention. However, Ohashi was frustrated, saying, “If Honma were serious about baseball, he should be able to throw a better ball.”

For Ohashi, Japanese literature is his alma mater, and Homma is a junior six years away from him. During practice, when Homma was about to go on roadwork, he said, “Run properly!” Ohashi sighed again, “I guess he’s thinking, “Where should I take a shortcut?”

Homma, who was a catcher until junior high school, was converted to a pitcher by manager Michio Oi (current general manager). Oi is a baseball player who played as an ace at Utsunomiya Koshien, runner-up in the summer Koshien, and as an outfielder at Waseda University. He says that the moment he saw Homma’s catch ball, he had an intuition that “this kid is a pitcher.”

“Nobody can see him as a pitcher. Until junior high school, there were no children who could catch his ball, so it seems that he was a catcher.”

However, Honma himself wanted to be a catcher.

“It was interesting that even seniors could move the catcher.”

He played as a catcher until the fall of his first year in high school, but was forced to switch to a pitcher in the winter. He became an ace after the spring of the second year, and Honma started to pitch in most of the important games.

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