◆ White Ball Ramblings 2025, No. 32
Softbank ‘s Kensuke Kondo has been performing remarkably well. It’s safe to say that the “messenger of victory” has returned.
The match between Softbank and Nippon-Ham on the 10th was a true battle for the top spot.
The rivalry began the day before, with The Hawks winning the first round. The second game was a tense pitcher duel between Softbank ‘s Liván Moinelo and Nippon-Ham ‘s Hiromi Ito, with sparks flying.
In the end, Moinelo pitched a complete game shutout game, allowing only strike out striking out 13 hit. Ito also pitched well, allowing only four hit one runs in eight innings. The difference was made by the genius craftsman Kondo’s bat.
In the third inning, with two outs and a runner on second base, Taisei Makihara scored with a double to left-center doble, and that precious run became the winning point.
After the game, manager Hiroki Kokubo praised Moinelo’s excellent pitching and commented on Kondo’s performance as follows:
“This month has been a period of unrivaled success.”
As the commander highly praised, his performance was outstanding.
As of the end of the 10th, he had 12 hits in 24 At Bat hit in 8 games in August, a batting average of .500. But it’s not all hits. On the 2nd, in a game Rakuten, he showed his outstanding batting eye by walking 5 Walk in a single game, becoming the 7th player in NPB history to do so. The next day, he had a multi-hit game, including his 5th Home Run, making him a helpless opponent for the opposing team.
Kondo’s season began with a battle with injury.
Shortly after the opening game, he was sidelined with back pain. After undergoing hernia surgery, he returned in June, but this time he was forced to retire again due to pain in his left heel. During this time, key players such as Yuki Yanagita, Ryoya Kurihara, Ukyo Shuto, and Kenta Imamiya suffered injuries one after another. At one point, the team sank to the bottom of the league.
The turning point that allowed them to overtake the leading Nippon-Ham Fighters came after three straight wins in head-to-head matches starting on July 1st. They then won the next three games starting on July 29th with a 2-1 record, and then swept the Tennozan match with three straight wins. They had an amazing 8-1 record in the last nine head-to-head matches, putting them firmly on the road to victory.
It is no exaggeration to say that Kondo’s batting is currently the best in Japanese baseball.
In 2022, after transferring to Softbank, he won Home Run and RBI. Last year, he was the batting hitter and MVP. He is truly reaching the peak of his career.
He was once talked about as the man closest to a 40% batting average. In addition to his bat control, which allows him to hit the ball left and right, he also has a great eye for picking the right ball, which Walk is often the case. Walk If he hates the ball and goes for the game, he is extremely unlikely to miss a sweet ball.
It was after moving to Softbank that Kondo added long-hitting power to his hitting. home run MIZUHO PayPay Dome Compared to the old Sapporo Dome, the former home of the Nippon-Ham team, which was large and difficult to hit, the home run ballpark, which also had a terrace, was said to be an easier place to hit a shot. This is where Kondo’s desire to improve and research was ignited.
“There is no absolute answer in batting. There are always challenges, and it’s fun to work on them,” said the hit machine in an interview.
In order to shine even more in his new home, he thoroughly trained his lower body and back muscles, and the ball he hit, which he had previously hit to the left field, now traveled farther thanks to the increased power he had pushing it into the ground.
Although he has struggled with injuries this season, he has been making careful preparations for his comeback, which is why he had such a spectacular summer outing.
After the second game, which was lost due to Kondo’s winning run, opposing manager Tsuyoshi Shinjo acknowledged the complete defeat, but reflected on the key points of the game, saying, “Was there no other way to play the game when Kondo was there (with two outs and a runner on second base)? Even if he had walked him and Yamakawa had hit a three-run home run.”
The year after Shinjo became manager of Nippon-Ham, Kondo transferred to a rival team as a free agent. There was also rumor circulating that the reason for this was that he disliked Shinjo’s “daily rotation” style of managerial decision-making. While the veracity of this story is uncertain, it is easy to imagine that it was one of the factors that led to his decision.
This season, Shinjo-Ham is in a position to aim for the championship, but is it any coincidence that the two players standing in their way are pitcher Kohei Arihara and Kondo, who also left Nippon-Ham?
The team has also entered August with 8 wins and 1 loss. Even though Yanagida and Kurihara are still missing, the Hawks’ advance is unlikely to stop as long as the unrivaled man is there.
Text by Kazuo Arakawa
AloJapan.com