Kimiyasu Kudo, who served as special guest commentator on the Nippon Broadcasting System Show Up Nighter Softbank vs. The Giants broadcast on the 11th, commented on Softbank ‘s Hotaka Yamakawa, who is currently in slump with the batting lineup.
Before the game, Yamakawa had 9 Home Run Home Run, third in the league, RBI 27 RBI, fifth in the league, but his batting average was .209. He had been batting fourth since the start of the season, but recently he has been playing as seventh or sixth. He started on the bench in the game against The Giants that day, and came in as a pinch hitter in the seventh inning with the score at 2-7 and runners on second and third with one out, and scored RBI with a grounder to third base.
Kudo offered his encouragement, saying, “There’s the fact that he’s the number 4 batter, and there’s the fact that he’s a home run hitter. It seems to me that he’s doing what he’s doing now while battling many different things. These things will definitely be useful to him in the future. I hope he will do his best and think of it as a test.”
Kudo added, “There are times when a player’s year is good or bad, but I don’t think that’s the case. Rather, I think that when a player is in a bad form or has a slump, it’s more to do with mental health than technical issues.”
(Nippon Broadcasting System Show Up Nighter)
AloJapan.com