Lotte professional baseball pitcher Naoya Masuda joins the Meikyu Association after achieving 250 saves in total

Pitcher Naoya Masuda (36) of Lotte Professional Baseball pitched in the ninth inning of a game against Seibu on the 4th and made his second save of the season, reaching 250 saves in total, which is a condition for entering the Meikyukai. He is the fifth Japanese player to achieve 250 saves in total, following Kazuhiro Sasaki, Shingo Takatsu, Hitoshi Iwase, and Yoshitoshi Hirano. He is the first pitcher born in the Heisei era to meet the Meikyukai's membership requirements (200 wins or 250 saves). Masuda's first save was against Orix on August 5, 2012, in his first year as a pro. In high school, he wore uniform number 16. He wasn't even a pitcher. He began his career as a pitcher in earnest when he entered university. There were 13 pitchers in his class, and he was rated ``13th in ability.'' I'm talking about Naoya Masuda (36), a pitcher for Lotte professional baseball who became the fifth player in history to achieve 250 saves in total. Kansai International University coach Hideyuki Suzuki (59), who coached him during his university days, praised his student's accomplishment but could not hide his surprise. ``I'd be rude to him if I said that, but I never could have imagined that I would achieve this much when I sent him off to the pros.'' They first met in the spring of 2008. A slender player joined the club from Ichi Wakayama Commercial High School (currently Ichi Wakayama High School). I heard that he was a backup infielder at the Wakayama tournament in his third summer of high school. ``I want to be a pitcher,'' he insisted, so I simply replied, ``Yes, please.'' I left the practice to the coach. ``I didn't pay attention to it at all at first,'' he recalls. However, ``His competitive spirit was amazing.'' In the long-distance run at the end of practice, he finished first, and in the short-distance run of several tens of meters, he was also the fastest on the team. He practiced at a top-class level, so much so that he kept running until his coaches stopped him. After spending one winter as a pitcher, Masuda grew rapidly. A fastball that was in the low 130 km range...