Shunsuke Watanabe (47), who was called ‘Mr. Submarine’ during his active career. He is a member of the World Baseball Classic (WBC) winning team in Japan in 2006 and 2009, and is a pitcher that comes to mind overlapping with Doosan Bears coach Lee Seung-yeop (47). Lee’s teammate at Chiba Lotte Marines was famous for his extremely low release point. He threw the ball 3 cm above the ground where his right hand would touch the ground. He is a rare submarine pitcher in Japanese baseball, and it was very difficult for batters to catch the timing because of this speciality. Fastballs with an average speed of less than 130 km/h were so powerful that they were called horse harnesses.

He debuted with Chiba Lotte in 2001 안전놀이터and appeared in 255 games until 2013, recording 87 wins and 82 losses and an average ERA of 3.65. In 2005, he led Chiba Lotte to win the Japan Series with coach Lee Seung-yeop, who played an active role as a center hitter. It was the first win in 31 years. In the regular season that year, he recorded 15 wins, 4 losses, and an ERA of 2.17, and in the second game of the Japan Series against the Hanshin Tigers, he won a no-four pitch shutout.

After spending 13 years with Chiba Lotte, he boarded a plane to the United States. He signed a minor league contract with the Boston Red Sox and tried to advance to the major leagues, but his dream was not fulfilled. He played in the American Independent League and the Venezuelan Winter League before returning to Japan and retiring from the socialite baseball team. He is currently the manager of a Japanese society baseball team.

On the 16th, the Tokyo 6 University Baseball League match between the University of Tokyo and Waseda University was held at Meiji Jingu Stadium. In the 6th inning with the score trailing 1-5, the second pitcher with the uniform number 44 of Tokyo University took the mound. He threw a ball at 120 km/h with a pitch similar to Watanabe.

The sophomore submarine pitcher successfully blocked the 6th inning with a tripartite. After catching the first hitter with a shortstop ground ball, he caught two subsequent hitters with a floating ball from second baseman. He also took the mound in the 7th inning and allowed 2 runs. The lead hitter went on base with an error, and was hit at the right time by two outs on third base and two outs on second base. He gave up 2 runs on 2 hits in 2 innings and left the mound in the 8th inning. 23 pitches.

The main character was Koki Watanabe (19), the son of “Mr. Submarine” Watanabe, and this day’s match was his league debut. He is a genius who joined the most prestigious Tokyo University by studying baseball and studying at the same time.

Koki Watanabe was born in Chiba Prefecture, which is related to Chiba Lotte, where his father was active, and started playing baseball in the third grade of elementary school. It is said that he naturally wanted to play baseball, not at the insistence of his father.

He pitched in middle school, but changed his pitching form to an underhand throw in high school after injuring his shoulder. Utoota at 1m67,61kg. Like his father, his fastball with a good ball end is his main weapon.

In an interview with a Japanese sports media outlet last year, he said, “As a child, I played catch with a toy ball at home with my father. It was the first baseball game.” He said that he had rarely seen his father’s games in person, but that he remembered his father fighting hard when he went to watch a daytime game with his grandparents. At the time, he said he remembered how his father quickly grabbed the cowt and attacked the hitter aggressively.

It was a game against the Seibu Lions on July 20, 2008, when Watanabe started. On this day, his father had a shutout with 88 pitches.

Last fall, he was hit in the face by a batted ball after being replaced as a starting pitcher in a match against Meiji University, a rookie tournament in which first-class students participate.

I wonder if Koki Watanabe will be able to succeed by going through college and going pro like his father did.