[Orix Buffaloes] Kazuma Sato improves his pitching speed by going to three gyms: “I feel like the ball is moving. If I can throw it at 155 km/h,” he aims to become the “Japanese Chapman” | Pacific League League.com

[Orix Buffaloes] Kazuma Sato improves his pitching speed by going to three different gyms: “I feel like the ball is moving. If I can throw it at 155 km/h,” aiming to become the “Japanese Chapman”

Sports Hochi

2025.12.25(木) 05:00

Orix Buffaloes Kazuma Sato pitcher (24) announced on the 24th that he would aim for a “Japanese chapman” at three types of gyms. From now off, he will go to a baseball facility in Kanagawa Prefecture and start practicing specifically to improve his ball speed. “At the end, so that the power is transmitted to the ball, like Chapman in terms of how to use the body,” he said, and set the Red Sox’s “world’s fastest man” as his ultimate ideal with the same left-hander over 190 cm.

This season, his sixth year as a pro, he has one win and one loss in three games. He sees his challenge as raising the “average” of his pitching speed, and while he was already attending two gyms with different goals, he decided to knock on the door of his “third.” “I kick (the ground) with the toes of my left foot, twist, use my whole body…” He says that each session of his four-hour intensive training is extremely fulfilling, saying, “It’s something I’ve never paid attention to in my baseball career. I’m noticing so much.”

On this day, he temporarily trained at Maishima in Osaka, and felt the effects, saying, “I feel like the ball is moving.” “I can already hit 150 km/h. If I can hit 155 km/h,” he said, seriously aiming to significantly improve his personal best of 148 km/h. (Nambu Shunta)

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