In recent years, Osaka Toin boasts unparalleled strength in the high school baseball world. Behind the scenes, at the draft meeting this fall, the school players were not nominated one after another. What is happening in Osaka Toin now? A reporter who has covered the school for 20 years explored it.
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The commander’s joking words sounded somewhat like the truth.
“I want to go home early”
Koichi Nishitani, manager of Osaka Toin, said that on the day he won the first consecutive victory at the Meiji-Jingu Games, he would like to take home his assignments and practice.
Unparalleled strength and many missing draft picks… Why?
The strength of Osaka Toin since the late Heisei period is well known.
Every time I go to Koshien, I am a candidate for the championship. If he loses, he will be criticized for not giving proper guidance to his team, even though he has recruited players.
“No matter what I do, I get hit, so I’m used to it.”
From the commander who says so, you can see the current situation where he is exposed to negative voices.
There was a humiliating event in Osaka Toin this autumn.
Among the players of Osaka Toin who submitted professional aspirations, including high school and university, 4 out of 5 were in the trouble of not being drafted.
What is going on in Osaka Toin? I would like to analyze the history and current situation of the school.
What Nishitani aimed at when he first took office
The Osaka Toin Baseball Club was founded in 1988, and in the summer of 1991, it won its first Koshien appearance. It can be said that the team then and now are completely different in nature. Although the staff system, including the director, was different, Osaka Toin at that time was a team aiming only for Koshien participation and the championship after that.
Director Nishitani, who was appointed as director in 1998, once said this.
“I went from being a coach to being a manager, but when I started, many of the players on the team ended up finishing in high school. I taught them about the existence of baseball and let them actually go see it.”
If a graduate was active in the world of college baseball, he posted an article about it in the dormitory. I often took him out to watch the Japan Professional Baseball Championship in autumn. By making them aware of the world ahead, they aimed to nurture players beyond high school baseball.
Takeya Nakamura was the player who succeeded in the policy after Nishitani took office.
