Japan professional baseball representative Yuki Yanagita (35, Softbank Hawks), whom Lee Jung-hoo has taken as a role model since childhood, announced his intention to resign early from the 2023 World Baseball Classic (WBC) baseball team in the middle of last month. He won a gold medal as a member of the 2021 Tokyo Olympics, but suffered an extreme slump last year, and this year he focuses on preparing for the season.
According to Japan’s ‘Number Web’ on the 5th, the reason for Yanagita’s sluggishness was her failure to manage her weight. Yanagita said, “I usually weigh between 90 and 91 kg, but last year I weighed 103 kg at the opening. He didn’t make it through training, he just gained weight.”
He had a reason for his sudden weight gain of 13kg. In February of last year, ahead of the spring camp, it began to be isolated in a nursing facility due to corona confirmation. Yanagita, whose mouth was empty as he was unable to manage his diet, asked his acquaintances to bring him various foods. Yanagita, who soothed his hunger with snacks such as cup noodles, fruit sandwiches, and glutinous rice cakes, said, “I didn’t exercise and just ate. He did not normally eat sweets, but he opened his eyes to sweet food,” he confessed.
He made an effort to lose weight during the season, but once the weight was on, it did not come off easily. Due to his failure to manage his weight, he had difficulty controlling his condition, and even his batting balance was broken. Because he was stressed, he looked for sweets, and a vicious cycle of not losing weight continued.
Last year’s performance was 207.05 in 117 games (120 hits in 437 at-bats), 24 homers, 79 RBIs, OPS .829. Although he had relatively good grades, he did not live up to the name of Yana Kita, a slugger on the Japanese national team. It was the lowest record in 10 years after becoming a full-time starter in 2013. 메이저놀이터
Yanagita, who said, “It was a year where I felt that physical condition is also important,” said Yanagita, who also fasted for the first time in his life this offseason. The purpose of resting the digestive system or detoxifying the body. Yanagita said, “I came to camp with a weight of 95 kg,” and “I am in my mid-30s before I know it. We will do our best to welcome the season in top condition. I want to definitely make up for last year’s disappointment with the goal of hitting 30 homers, which I haven’t been able to record in recent years.” Yanagita’s last 30 home run season was in 2018 (36), five years ago. The number of home runs over the past three years has been 29, 28, and 24, respectively.
Yanagita, a right-handed and left-handed outfielder, has played 1255 games for 12 years since his first team debut at Softbank in 2011, recording a batting average of .960 with an OPS of . He swept the batting champion twice in 2015 and 2018 and first in on-base percentage and slugging percentage for four consecutive years from 2015 to 2018. He was also selected as the Best Nine six times while winning the league MVP twice in 2015 and 2020.
The trademark is a full swing that makes the helmet come off. He also received interest from the American major leagues, but after the 2019 season, he remained in Japan with a 7-year long-term contract with Softbank. After Yanagita’s debut, Softbank had its heyday by winning 5 league championships and 7 Japanese Series championships, including 4 consecutive years.