Nippon-Ham Ham Fighters Batting Coach Yutaka Yagi Returns to the Field, Warm Applause from the Stands: "I'm Happy You Care About Me" | Pacific League

[Nippon-Ham] Hitting coach Yutaka Yagi returns to the field, receiving warm applause from the stands, “I was happy that people cared about me”

Sports Hochi

2025.10.2(木) 15:49

現場復帰し、選手の拍手に笑顔で応える日本ハム・八木打撃コーチ

Nippon-Ham held a full team practice at Esconderoga on the 2nd, and batting coach Yagi Hiroshi, who had been recuperating from a head injury, returned to the field for the first time in about three weeks.

During the September 9th game against Softbank (ESCON), when Kondo struck out on a fly ball to second base in the eighth inning, the broken bat struck Coach Yagi, who was sitting on the bench, directly on the left side of his head. He underwent a thorough examination at a hospital in Sapporo, had a laceration on his head sutured, and was hospitalized for about a week with partial bleeding and swelling in his brain. He was carefully monitored through rehabilitation and other means, and returned to the lineup ahead of the final game of the season.

Before practice began, the players welcomed him with applause, and the fans in the stands also gave him warm applause, to which Coach Yagi expressed his gratitude, saying, “The fans made banners and sent encouraging signs, which I’m really grateful for. Even though they’re not players, it made me happy that they cared about me.”

When asked about the players he saw in person for the first time in a while, he said, “They seem relaxed. There’s only one regular season game left, and I think Kotaro Kiyomiya (who is in the running for the most hit title) is the only one who’s really fired up (laughs). The problem is that we’ll be practicing before the CS, so I’ll see how they adjust.”