Showing Clutch Hitting in the No. 6 Spot
After his call-up to the first team, Hirosawa has been delivering powerful hits consistently.
The Seibu Lions routed Rakuten 6-1 at Belluna Dome on May 10, securing their first four-game winning streak of the season. With their surplus in the win-loss column increasing to a season-high three, they closed the gap with league-leading Orix to 2.5 games.
[Player Data] Taiga Hirosawa: Profile, Career Stats, Game Updates
Although a weak offense had been a recent concern, Seibu has now scored 149 runs, third-best in the league. The loss of Masatoshi Kuwahara—an FA acquisition from DeNA who had been thriving as the leadoff man—was a blow when he went down in late April with a left calf strain. However, the return of Tyler Nevin from left side discomfort has been a huge boost. Since his promotion to the first team on May 1, Nevin has been on fire: in nine games, he is batting .485 with 4 home runs and 10 RBIs.
But the contribution of another player has also been crucial: Taiga Hirosawa, now in his second season after being acquired via the active draft system. He started the season in the minors but was called up on April 5 and has been spraying hits to all fields. In the May 9 game against Rakuten at Belluna Dome, with the Lions trailing by one run and runners on first and third with no outs in the sixth inning, Hirosawa launched a go-ahead three-run homer, his second of the year. In 23 games, he is batting .370 with 2 homers and 11 RBIs, and an astonishing .474 average with runners in scoring position. His impact as a lineup core has earned him high praise from the coaching staff, and he has been locked into the No. 6 spot—a position where he frequently comes to the plate with runners on base.
Drafted First Round by Lotte
Hirosawa spent nine seasons with Lotte from 2016 onward. Selected in the first round of the 2014 draft out of Sendai Ikuei High School, he was hailed as a “slugging shortstop” with a bright future. He made 23 appearances in his first professional season, batting .149 with 0 homers and 3 RBIs. Reflecting on that debut year, Hirosawa said:
“In the early spring, I was getting hits in the minors, but the gap between the first team and the minors was huge. First of all, the stadium atmosphere was different. I was a little bewildered. Technically, I felt differences in every aspect—especially hitting. I couldn’t even make contact with the ball. It really hit me that I couldn’t keep going the way I was. But even just experiencing that was a big takeaway. Seeing and feeling the first-team level allowed me to work toward that level in practice and games in the minors.”
In the offseason, he returned home to Miyagi Prefecture and visited his alma mater, Sendai Ikuei High School.
“I wanted to see the younger players, but mostly I went to greet Coach (Junichiro) Sasaki. The last time I had seen him was after I got my first hit in Sendai. He told me, ‘You need to have a more dominant mindset—go into the batter’s box feeling like you can handle any pitch.’ Looking back, I think there was a part of me that was too cautious, thinking ‘I’m just a rookie,’ and maybe I looked nervous at the plate. That kind of mentality won’t work in pro ball. Mental toughness is only going to become more important, and that advice really resonated with me. It’s not something you can put into practice overnight without training, but by building confidence through practice, I believe I can develop that mindset.”
[Next page: Expectations to perform three times better than his Lotte days]