The director sobbed, too! "ERA 0.17" 日최고 →라에부상"불 → Can't return to the first half of the year due to the injury of the highest bullpen

*This content was translated by AI.

The head coach, who was reporting the injury of Taichi Ishii (29), the best bullpen pitcher in the Japanese professional baseball (NPB) in the 2025 season and the record of 50 consecutive games without losing a point, sobbed. Fujikawa Kuji (46), a legendary closer who was in charge of Hanshin's back door in the past, shed tears.

According to a report by Japan Sports Hochi on the 13th, Fujikawa produced a scene of sobbing at the mention of Ishii during a briefing with reporters on the 12th.

Ishii's injury tragedy occurred on the 11th. Ishii, who took the mound as the team's third pitcher in the Hanshin Tigers' first- and second-tier joint Cheongbaek match at Kinosa Stadium, sprinted to the back of the home plate for base cover when the opponent's batter hit in a crisis of first and second bases with no outs. In the process, Ishii fell to the ground as he felt severe pain in his left leg.

Ishii, who complained of pain that made him unable to stand up on his own, was eventually carried off on a stretcher without being able to stand up. Since then, he has been seen leaving the stadium wearing a thick bandage and relying on a wheelchair. Eventually, a detailed diagnosis revealed damage to the left Achilles tendon. The departure of the World Baseball Classic (WBC), which will be held in March, has also been confirmed.

Fujikawa shed tears for a minute while telling the story. He lamented, "I'm a player who used to exert his power as close to his limit as possible," and said, "It's going to be a time to stop for a while in baseball life, but I'll come back stronger. This is not said as a director, but as a human being. Ishii is a great player. There will be a day when it will be revived," he said. He also added that it is unclear whether he will return to the team in the first half of the 2026 season.

Ishii was simply the best bullpen pitcher in the NPB in the 2025 season. As a member of Hanshin, he even joined the national team with a cartoon-like performance of 0.17 with nine saves and 36 holds with one win and no loss in 53 regular league games. He was a pitcher who set a record of 50 consecutive scoreless games, so he was expected to play as a must-win team for Japan in the WBC. Japanese media seem to be defining Ishii's injury as an "emergency" because he was a pitcher that Japanese national team coach Hirokazu Ibata predicted as a must-win group. After much consideration, left-hander Chihiro Sumida (27, Seibu Lion) was selected as a substitute on the afternoon of the 13th.

It is considered unusual in Japan that Fujikawa shed tears in public. Fujikawa, who played in the Major League with Hanshin with a "fast fastball" during his active career, knows the pain of injury and the difficulty of making a comeback better than anyone else. He seems to have sympathized more deeply because he had a long rehabilitation experience through elbow ligament joint surgery during his Chicago Cubs performance in the 2013 season. Amid the sincere tears and encouragement of the head coach, the Japanese archipelago is cheering for Ishii to overcome the ordeal and return to his "impregnable" appearance.

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*This content was translated by AI.