The level of expectation and the commonality between “village gods”
Last year, the baseball world was full of topics, such as the Hanshin Tigers winning the Japan Series for the first time in 38 years, following their WBC World Championship. This year is expected to be even more exciting, and fans are looking forward to the Rookie of the Year (Best Rookie) contest, which will be held between the 122 rookie players (72 under contract and 50 under development) nominated in the draft conference at the end of last year, as well as young players on the verge of breaking out.
Last season, the award went to pitchers Shoki Murakami (25, Hanshin Tigers) in the Central League and Shunpei Yamashita (21, Orix Buffaloes) in the Pacific League, both of whom joined their teams in 2021 but had not played in the first team until last year. Who will be the breakout star this year?
In order to find out how this once-in-a-lifetime, fierce Rookie of the Year race will play out, we conducted a survey of 100 people who were watching the second-division games at Toda Stadium, the home field of the Tokyo Yakult Swallows’ second division, and CAR3219 Field, the home field of the Saitama Seibu Lions’ second division. Who on earth are the core professional baseball fans paying attention to?
A man in his 40s who was at Toda Stadium said:
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“The closest to the Rookie of the Year award is probably Baystars’ Takaki Watarai (21). He easily knocks back balls from ace-level opposing pitchers, and even fastballs over 150 km/h don’t seem to give in to his strength, so it’s hard to believe he’s just a rookie. There are many rookies who only perform well in exhibition games, but Watarai is in a class of his own. I’m a Yakult fan, but I don’t think the pitchers on our team can hold him back (laughs).”

Takaki Watarai was selected as the first pick by three teams in last year’s draft, and after much competition, he joined the Yokohama DeNA Baystars. He is also known as the best fielder in the amateur league, and has been in great form since the preseason. He recorded a batting average of .434, becoming the second player in history to be named the preseason rookie batting champion.
The team’s manager Daisuke Miura also mentioned him as the starting player for the opening game, so he is the most popular rookie. Incidentally, Watarai’s father is Hirofumi Watarai, who played for Yakult.
A man in his 20s who was also at Toda Stadium also supported Watarai.

“Watarai is a remarkable rookie even outside of his playing. During a practice match during this year’s training camp, he was on the bench shouting things like, ‘That’s great!’ and ‘Let’s go!’ even though it wasn’t his turn to bat.
Normally, a rookie player can’t do that. Yakult’s Munetaka Murakami, who also won the Rookie of the Year award, was also shouting from the bench in his second year with the team, so when I saw that scene, I was convinced that Watarai would definitely do well.”
It received a whopping 39 votes, placing it in first place in this survey.
Source: Japan