Nippon-Ham of Kotaro Kiyomiya infielder shared his memories of Chunichi and Sho Nakata infielder who announced his retirement.
He joined the team as the first pick in the 2017 draft. Regarding Nakata’s retirement, he said sadly, “I was surprised. When we joined, he was already in his prime, a mainstay and the face of the team, so it feels like it’s time for him to retire.”
When asked about a memorable incident, he recalled a memory from after a game in his second year. During a time when defense errors that directly led to losses were occurring one after another, Nakata was feeling down in a separate room called “Locker B,” which was used by the younger players, when he suddenly showed up.
“In my second year, there was a game where I made a mistake and we lost the game, and I was feeling down when Nakata came over and encouraged me by saying, ‘That’s how I grew, too, and everyone goes through this,’ and I cried so much. I remember him saving me,” he revealed.
As they played the same position as each other at first base, “he always had kind words for me, like, ‘Kiyo-chan is special.’ I got to take batting practice at first baseman and spend time with him, so it was a very special time for me.” He also played with mitt that Nakata gave him, and said, “I think Nakata is the best first baseman. I feel like I’ve inherited the lineage of The Fighters’ first first baseman.”
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AloJapan.com