◆ White Ball Ramblings 2025, No. 30
Once again, the “Shinjo magic” exploded.
On the 26th, after the All-Star Game, the golden rookie arrived at Nippon-Ham ‘s home stadium, ES CON FIELD.
Leo Shibata is written as “Leo” and is pronounced “Leo.” He is 19 years old and joined the team as the first pick in last year’s draft from Fukuoka University Ohori High School. He has a fastball that reaches a maximum speed of 149 km/h and has hit a total of 19 Home Run in high school. The scouting report at the time of his joining the team described him as “a prodigy from Kyushu aiming to be a two-way player.”
He stands 187cm tall and weighs 87kg, and is overflowing with talent. Nippon-Ham is the team that produced the world-famous two-way player Shohei Ohtani. Shibata also has limitless dreams.
First of all, his performance in his debut as pitcher against Lotte was outstanding.
When he took to mound as a starter, he pitched the scheduled three innings with no hits and three strike out. He held the opponent closer with just 39 pitches. His fastest pitch was 154 km/h, 5 km/h more powerful than when he joined the team. Above all, strike first and didn’t collapse. pitcher coach Takeharu Kato, who watched over him, also gave him the highest praise, saying, “He has courage mound and great sense. I’m looking forward to seeing what he does next.”
This was the first time in 38 years that a high school graduate rookie had pitched his first start without hit, since Shinichi Kondo of mound Chunichi Without any prior notice, the team even handed out “game certificates” to fans in celebration of Shibata’s outstanding pitching, proving just how exceptional his pitching performance was.
Going back nine months, the star of the draft was Rui Rui Muneyama (Meiji University), who was selected first by Rakuten. Nippon-Ham also competed for Munetayama, but lost, and turned to a high school player with a larger scale. After competing with Softbank once again, they managed to acquire Shibata.
It is unclear what kind of development policy other teams would have adopted, but Nippon-Ham has a “two-way player program” that developed Ohtani.
Eastern League He has been active on pitcher and fielder. pitcher ERA As a hitter, he is struggling with a .156 batting average, but he has shown glimpses of a long-range gun with 2 Home Run hits. (Eastern records as of July 25)
The team plans to train him slowly and give him five inning in the next first-team game. He is eager to make his debut as a two-way player.
Still, it’s surprising that a high school graduate rookie is making his debut at this time.
Even after the All-Star Game, the team is still in the lead, but the reigning champion Softbank are closing in. At a time when they cannot afford to neglect even a single game, the selection of a rookie without any calculations seems like a gamble.
However, manager Takeshi Shinjo has been warning Shibata about his first start since before the ballgame. Of course, the reports from the farm would have been up. Nevertheless, this season’s team, led by Hiromi Ito, Takayuki Kato, Sachiya Yamazaki, and Koki Kitayama, has accumulated wins, and youngsters such as Kota Tatsu and Haruki Hosono have grown into the “pitcher Kingdom,” one of the best in the league. There seems to be no need to select Shibata at this point.
However, for the team and the manager, with an eye on the crucial battle ahead, opportunities to use promising young players are becoming increasingly limited. In addition, with a three-game series against Softbank coming up starting on the 29th, they want to conserve their ace pitchers. These team circumstances, along with Shinjo Ryu’s preference for aggressively using young players, led to the decision to go for the “Lion’s Challenge.”
Needless to say, this experience will be put to good use for the team and Shibata himself next season and beyond.
If Shibata’s two-way play is fully operational in the future, he will surely become the hottest topic and most popular player since Ohtani. In addition to the 19-year-old, pitcher Kota Tatsu, who broke out this season, is still only 21. Looking at hitter, promising players acquired after high school graduation, such as Kotaro Kiyomiya (26), Chusei Mannami (25), and Yuki Nomura (25), are beginning to blossom, supporting the team’s rapid progress.
Looking at this year’s All-Stars, power-type players are overwhelmingly found in Pacific League. If an unfinished big Leo Shibata is added to that list in the near future, the future of Nippon-Ham will definitely be even brighter than it is now.
His rival Softbank has the soon-to-be 20-year-old Yugo Maeda pitcher The Dora 1 left-hander from two years ago recorded his first professional win earlier this month against Rakuten on the 13th. Orix In addition, Shunheita Yamashita pitcher, a four-year senior in high school, will be a major target for Shibata. He has been slow in recent years due to injury, but he is another gem that the majors are eagerly awaiting.
Two future ace candidates and a senior who is one step ahead of them. I’d like to keep an eye on their “rivalry story.”
Text by Kazuo Arakawa
AloJapan.com