"Lotte's 亞 Quarter Kyoyama Is Concerned About Control → Will It Be Adapable to Fierce Busan Fans?" daily media questions

*This content was translated by AI.

Japanese media's cold assessment of "Asian Quarter" Masaya Kyoyama (28), who will play for Lotte Giants from the 2026 season, came out. He raised concerns about his control and paid attention to whether he would adapt to the support of enthusiastic Busan home fans.

Japanese baseball media High School Baseball.COM shed light on the prospects and situations of players from the Japanese Professional Baseball (NPB) who joined the KBO League through a special article on the 6th.

Regarding Kyoyama, the media said, "He is a pitcher who spent nine seasons in the NPB and threw nearly 1,000 innings in the first and second teams. The maximum speed is about 155 kilometers per hour, and a large splitter is the weapon. However, the large number of walks per nine innings and notable ball control are considered a concern. In response, Lotte is said to be counting on the guidance of pitcher coach Kim Sang-jin and pitcher general coordinator Satoro Kanemura. In the end, many say it is a "high risk-high return" that relies on coaches' correction of fastball pitchers.

He also paid attention to the environment of Busan. "Lotte's home stadium is said to have been modeled after Yokohama Stadium, the home of Yokohama," said the high school baseball dotcom. There is something in common in appearance, and the stadium is a little bigger than Yokohama. Therefore, Kyoyama, who is feared to hit home runs, is expected to be a factor that can be relaxed. And Lotte has the support of enthusiastic fans enough to be called the 'Korea's Hanshin Tigers', so adaptation to pressure is considered a point of success or failure in Korea, he added.

On December 12 last year, Lotte recruited Kyoyama, which can lead the starting pitcher to the bullpen, for $150,000. In November, he conducted a tryout test at the closing camp. It has a simple and soft pitching form and can be operated based on the rotational power of the fastball and the trajectory of the breaking ball," he said.

Kyoyama said through the Lotte club, "I have always been very interested in Korean baseball, and thank you for giving me the opportunity to play as a player there," adding, "I will do my best to fulfill my fans' goals by faithfully playing the role given."

Lotte General Manager Park Joon-hyuk expressed his expectation on Kyoyama, saying, "He is a player with high rotational power and a fork ball with a large drop, and based on his experience as a starter and an intermediate pitcher in Japan, he will be able to add strength to the starting pitchers."

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*This content was translated by AI.