If you can't play baseball, there's no room. Jeon Kyung-gi played 4 times → 7 times relegation → Except for the starting pitcher in 196 games, the fall of last year's home run RBI king

Jun 06, 2025

If you can't play baseball, there's no room. Jeon Kyung-gi played 4 times → 7 times relegation → Except for the starting pitcher in 196 games, the fall of last year's home run RBI king
Softbank Yamakawa ranked first in home run = RBI last year. From the first year of the transfer, he played a strong role as the fourth batter and contributed to the team's victory. He hit a home run and performed a ceremony in the climax series. Photo capture = Softbank Hawks SNS



If you can't play baseball, there's no room. Jeon Kyung-gi played 4 times → 7 times relegation → Except for the starting pitcher in 196 games, the fall of last year's home run RBI king
Yakamawa was absent from the starting lineup against Chunichi on the 5th. It was his first exclusion since joining Softbank last year. Photo capture = Softbank Hawks SNS
If you can't play baseball, there's no room. It is a very common-sense conclusion.

The opening game '4th hitter' is out of the starting lineup. He sat on the bench throughout the game without a substitute. It's not because he's in a bad condition or because of his poor performance, not because of injuries. Even though I received enough opportunities, I didn't get the performance I expected. It's an emergency.

Softbank Hawks 'Jupo'Hotaka Yamakawa (34) did not play in the home game against the Chunichi Dragons on the 5th. Until the previous day, he started as a seventh-designated hitter, and Kondo Kenske (32), who returned from injury, went as a fourth-designated hitter. In addition, Akira Nakamura (36) entered the first base, Yamaka's main position.




Last year 'No. 1 hit' Kondo returned and had to take out either Yamakawa or Nakamura. Coach Hiroki Kokubo excluded Yamakawa from the starting lineup. Coach Kokubo said in a media interview that `I had no choice but to leave Nakamura out to win.'

As of the 5th, Nakamura ranks second in the Pacific League on-base percentage (0.365) and ninth in hits (47). It is even stranger that Yamakawa, who is in poor batting condition, will participate instead of Nakamura. Coach Kokubo made a cold-headed, common-sense judgment. The player himself has no choice but to accept it. Yamakawa said, `If you don't perform well, it's natural that you can't play.'

Yamakawa is the main player in Softbank's victory last year. He played in 143 regular-season games and all games, ranking first in home runs (34) and RBIs (99). Since his first year as a transfer from the Seibu Lions, he has been active in four games. Coach Kokubo's trust is bound to be strong.




This year, he started the season with No. 4. He hit an RBI double with the Chiba Lotte Marines in the opening game. However,
If you can't play baseball, there's no room. Jeon Kyung-gi played 4 times → 7 times relegation → Except for the starting pitcher in 196 games, the fall of last year's home run RBI king
Yamakawa, who went down to No. 4 in the opening game, went down to No. 7 and was even humiliated to be excluded from the starting lineup. Photo capture = Softbank Hawks SNS
It became the only hit. 1 for 13 in the opening series. After that, he made his name known as a home run, but the batting slump continued. He hit a batting average of 0.220 for two months from April to May.

The fourth batter's poor performance led to poor team performance. It was even more so as Kondo left due to injury. Softbank, which was considered a strong candidate for the championship, was not out of the bottom line. Coach Kokubo said, `Even if Yamakawa is sluggish, he can hit home runs sometimes", showing faith.

As the slump deepened, Softbank's leadership was forced to move. I tried to change by changing the batting order. In the opening 39 games, Yamakawa was lowered from four to seven. The lower batting order movement did not lead to the recovery of the sense of hitting. In the end, it led to the exclusion of the starting pitcher for the first time in 53 games. Yamakawa started on the bench for the first time in 196 games since joining Softbank last year.




Softbank defeated Chunichi 8-4 on the same day. He scored four points in the first inning and led with ease. He added four points in the seventh inning to seal the victory 8-0.

He swept three consecutive games as the strongest player in the inter-league (exchange match) against the Central League. It was followed by the third-place Seibu Lions by one game. The gap with the No. 1 Nippon Ham Fighters has narrowed to 2.5 games. If they do well in the interleague, where they play 18 games per team, they can leap to the top.

If you can't play baseball, there's no room. Jeon Kyung-gi played 4 times → 7 times relegation → Except for the starting pitcher in 196 games, the fall of last year's home run RBI king
Yamakawa in batting training at the spring camp. He has been in a slump since the beginning of the season and has not been able to perform well last year. Photo capture = Softbank Hawks SNS
As of Tuesday, Yamakawa has a batting average of 0.212-9 homers, 27 RBIs, and an OPS of 0.667. The team is wriggling up, but Yamakawa is on the floor. It's a picture that no one expected. Will there be a day when he laughs talking about April and May, when the season is over.



This article was translated by Naver AI translator.