Photo By Sponichi
The monthly column “Ryoya Kurihara’s Kuri’s Talk” by infielder Ryoya Kurihara (29), who has been appointed as Softbank’s new player chairman, will start in the new year on Sponichi Western Edition (4th Tuesday of each month). He digs into his thoughts on baseball and talks candidly about small incidents in his private life. The first is “10 things I want to accomplish this year.”
[Ryoya Kurihara’s Chestnuts’ Talk]Happy New Year. This is Ryōya Kurihara. I have decided to serialize a column on Sponichi. I would like to write about a wide range of topics, including events in my personal life and my deep thoughts about baseball. Thank you for your continued support.
The first commemorative event was the beginning of the year, so we thought about “10 things we want to accomplish this year.” Five each for baseball and private life.
What I would especially like to work on is “never change the bat,” which is written in (5) of baseball. Last season, I changed my bat depending on the pitcher, and I always had three bats for each game. Over the years, I used five or six different bats. But I realized that I don’t have to worry about which one to use in my next at-bat. If you’re thinking, “Oh, I guess I’ll go with this one today, but the head isn’t coming out right now,” you’ve already lost. That’s why I want to choose one type. It’s not a bad bat, so I feel like I should hit it with skill.
The way you hit and form will vary slightly depending on the bat. Because of that, even though the bat’s performance was good, I felt like I couldn’t handle it myself. On top of that, there are a lot of players around me that rarely change: Kon-chan (Kondo), Kenta-san (Imamiya), Macky (Makihara Dai), Yukyo-san (Shuto), Tatsu (Yanagicho), Isamu (Nomura). The bats we will be playing with this season will be decided through independent training and camp. I’m thinking that a bat from around 2021 would be good.
Regarding changeup (3) in the baseball edition, if I were to take the mound with a lead by a large margin, I would want to say, “I can throw a Kurihara changeup” (lol).
Regarding (2) cooking in Private Edition, I can only make instant yakisoba right now. I can’t even make fried eggs. Maybe I could do it if I tried. But I want to have dishes that I’m good at and that I’m proud of.
This is how I would like to convey my current feelings and events to everyone through my writing. Of course, I will also do my best in baseball. We look forward to your continued support in 2026. (Softbank infielder)
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