“Team Aoyagi”: Students are becoming popular one after another

This season, the Hanshin Tigers are aiming to become the first team in the team’s history to win back-to-back Japan Series championships, and Akihiro Aoyagi will be serving as the opening pitcher for the second year in a row.

The Tigers’ ace’s influence is not limited to the mound. Over the past two years, the joint voluntary training group he runs, “Team Aoyagi,” has been quietly creating a boom both inside and outside the team.

Aoyagi, who won the most wins title in 2021 and the pitcher triple crown in 2022, held his first joint voluntary training in Numazu, Shizuoka with his juniors in January 2023. The joint voluntary training in January this year, with more participants than last year, was also a great success.

Last season, Murakami Shoki, a junior pitcher at Hanshin who is a student of Aoyama’s joint voluntary training, made such a leap that he won the MVP and Rookie of the Year awards despite not having pitched in the first team the previous year. Nishimura Amahiro (Lotte), who was Aoyama’s classmate at Teikyo University, also participated in the joint voluntary training and pitched in 44 games last season, achieving a career-high ERA of 1.

What is the reason behind the fact that Aoyagi’s joint voluntary training “disciples” become big names in the professional baseball world every year?