Sawamura Hirokazu

I’ll introduce Sawamura Hirokazu. I’m a fan of him. Sawamura was born in 1988, in Tochigi. He joined the Giants from 2010, and he was picked in the first round of the draft. His position is pitcher. His uniform number is 15. He is a strong self-assertive type, especially in baseball. Self-assertion means that people show off their existence. I think that another characteristic of his playing is his powerful pitching. The speed of his pitch is 154 km/h. He said that reason of going up the speed of a pitch is a training of the lower half of the body. So he is big in the hips. If you look at him closely, you will be surprised, because, he has very big muscles.

In 2013, he was Chosen as a player of the 2013 World Baseball Classic. When I was a high school student, I watched a game between the Japanese team and the Chinese Taipei team in Tokyo Dome. In this game, the Japanese team won in the bottom of the ninth inning. It was such an exciting game! In this game, Sawamura played as middle relief pitcher. The right side pictures in its blog post is Sawamura from that game and other members of the Japanese team.

On September 28^th, I watched a game between the Giants and the Chunichi Dragons in Tokyo Dome. I took many pictures of players, and the bottom pictures are Sawamura. I like his pitching form. So if you watch him, please watch his pitching form. It’s my recommendation.

By the way, do you remember my blog of last year? The blog’s name was Kickoff. The regular baseball season will finish in a little while, but the NFL regular season just started on September 8^th. So let’s watch some NFL games! Of course, I will cheer for the Seattle Seahawks.

Chono Hisayoshi

I’ll introduce Chono Hisayoshi. He is 31 years old now. He graduated from Nihon University, and after graduating he got a job at Honda Motor Co., Ltd. He became a member of the company baseball team from 2007 to 2009. He was evaluated as a great baseball player at both Nihon University and the Honda baseball team. He joined the Giants from 2010. His position is outfielder, and his uniform number is 7. He has been the head of the team’s players association from this year. Other personal history is that he was a member of the Japanese team in the 2013 World Baseball Classic.

He has a lot of good points. For example, he has good dynamic visual acuity, has great power, is a speedster and an outfielder with a good arm. He plays the fourth position in the batting order recently. This batter position is usually filled by the best batter on the team. He has won many titles for the past 6 years, such as the rookie king, Batting Champion, Best Nine Award, the single-season hit record (he got this title with Sakamoto Hayato, who is his teammate), Golden Glove Award and the first prize in the Japanese Series and so on. Incidentally, his entrance musics are usually western music, such as P!nk and Madonna, so if you like western music and watch a Giants game, you can enjoy his entrance music. The of video at the bottom is his entrance music, which is "Today's the Day/P!nk", so let's watch it and listen to his entrance music. I found this clip from Youtube (https://youtu.be/bpaEKAH28rU) .

When I was a high school student, I was elected as No.1 viewers gift, which is the Giants Special Campaign. So I got a chance to meet the Giants players of the first team. I watched a practice at the Tokyo Dome before a game in the players’ presence. I was so excited!! I took many pictures and I shook hands with Giants players. After watching, I met Chono Hisayoshi and I had my photograph taken with him. And I interviewed him about Winning Beer Splash. I said “How did you feel about your Winning Beer Splash?” He answered “I was so excited.” And I said “I heard that beer smart in eyes, so did it smarts when beer fell all over you?” He answered “Yes, it did. Winning Beer Splash is so exciting, but when beer fell all over me, my eyes hurt.” When I finished interviewing to him, he gave me his autograph ( on the right side and top picture is this). This experience was like a dream to be able to meet the Giants player of the first team and to talk to them, so it’s such a special memory for me.

Yamamoto Yasuhiro

I'll introduce Yamamoto Yasuhiro. I'm interested in him recently. He was born in 1993, and he is 22 years old now. He graduated from Keio High School and University. Takahashi Yoshinobu, who is the baseball manager of the Giants from this year graduated from Keio University, too. Yamamoto is the player wearing uniform number 56. He plays short stop, but he played pitcher when he was a junior high school student. He began to play short stop as a high school student. He joined the Giants from this year, and he was drafted fifth. In 2016 on May 1, the Giants played a game with the Tokyo Yakult Swallows. He took part in this game for the first time as a pinch-hitter for the catcher.

On May 31, I went to Kamagaya Stadium in Chiba. This stadium is the Nihon Ham Fighters's farm home ground. I watched a game between the Giants and the Nihon Ham Fighters farmteams. Yamamoto took part in this game as a starting player in the leadoff position and shortstop. I took pictures of him, so the pictures on the right in this blog post are my pictures. When I watched this game, the temperature was 29.5 degrees in the inside of the Kamagaya Stadium. It was a very hot day, but the players played the game as hard as they could. Their figures are very cool!! On this day, I got sunburned, so my sunburned legs and arms were hurt by the shower when I took a bath.

Yamamoto has taken part on games of the first team recently, and he hit. I think he is making a good impression on Giants fans. My favorite baseball position is shortstop, so I want Yamamoto to make it up from the farm team to the first team. And I hope that he will become a player like my favorite player Sakamoto Hayato in the future.

The GIANTS stadium

Do you think that you want to talk with some of the Giants player? If you go to Giants stadium, you can realize this hope. I'll introduce it now. It's in the city of Inagi in Tokyo, near Yomiuri Land, a popular amusement park. The Giants stadium is mainly used for baseball practice and games of the Giants farm team. There are an outside field and an indoor practice field, so you can watch practices even if it rains.

I often go there, because I want to watch practices and games, to take pictures of players and to talk with players. This is one of my memories in the Giants stadium. The picture at the top is when I got the signature of Fujimura Daisuke and I took a picture with Ohrui Susumu who is my best player. But he was traded from the Giants to the Fighters this year. The second picture is a spring training camp in 2014. The players ran and stretched. After this, they practiced their practice schedule. For example, they hit fungoes for fielding practice like in the third picture. I like this scene, because they were practicing for all they were worth. It is very cool, so I was lost in admiration for them. Today, player who live in a dormitory of the Giants get on a pick-up bus when they get home. However, they had gone to the Giants stadium by bicycle until Ohta Taishi was injured when he went home by bicycle. (The bottom of picture.)

If you want to see players, you should go there! I think you can have an exchange with players so close up, and it's exciting. But be careful; don't say bad things about the Giants. Because this is the Giants home stadium, so people who go there are almost all fans of the Giants.

Hayato Sakamoto

Sakamoto recorded the most base hits.

This is my first blog post. I'm Japanese and a student of Tsurumi University. I love Japanese professional baseball, and I have been a "Yomiuri Kyojingun (GIANTS)" fan about for 10 years. My grandfather was this team's fan, and he taught me its good points and players for me. In this blog, I'll introduce GIANTS's news and players. I want you to be interested in the GIANTS (or
 Japanese professional baseball) when you read my blog. The Japanese professional baseball season began on March 25th, so let's watch the game!!

I bought it.

I'll introduce one of the popular baseball player in GIANTS. He is Hayato Sakamoto. He is in blog's background, and I took this picture. He is the most my favorite player. He was born in 1988, so he is 27 years old now, but he is a captain of the GIANTS. His position is a mainly short stop, but sometimes first or second baseman. His play is great. His most inpressive game was in the final game of the 2012 season. I watched this game in Tokyo Dome. In this game, he recorded the most base hits with Hisayoshi Chono, who is Sakamoto's teammate. When Sakamoto hit the same number of Chono's 173 hits, he shed tears at second base because of delight. I watched this scene from the outfield cheering section with my friend, and I shed tears, too. Of course, the GIANTS won the game. He is my most cheerful player, so I was very happy!! This picture is after Sakamoto recorded the most base hits, and a picture of a black T-shirt is that was sold in memory of his record.

Last year, Sakamoto took part in the Yakuruto Swallows game as a cleanup hitter. He became a cleanup hitter for the first time since he became a Japanese professional baseball player. Cleanup is the most important spot in the batting order. I was glad that he became cleanup, but a happier thing is that this game's day was my birthday!! So I was so happy.I hope his performance this season is as great as that time.