“I caused trouble for the leaders by not being there at the very end.”
Softbank pitcher Katsuki Matayoshi negotiated to renew the contract at the team office in PayPay Dome on the 15th, and renewed the contract with an annual salary of 150 million yen. Matayoshi joined from Chunichi this season by exercising domestic FA rights. In the first year following transferring in FA, the annual salary of the previous year was set as the upper limit, and the annual salary of this season, the first year of the four-year contract, was 42 million yen. (All amounts are estimates)
Matayoshi joined Chunichi from Shikoku IL’s Kagawa in 2nd place in the 2013 draft. He joined Softbank from this season and played a part in the winning formula from the opening, recording 18 consecutive games without conceding a goal until mid-May. However, in the match once morest Nippon-Ham on July 8, he suffered injuries such as a broken right instep and withdrew. Although he was able to return to the actual battle, he did not go until he was re-promoted to the first army, and the team missed the league championship.
In the first year of the transfer, he was frustrated because he was not in the team in the second half of the important season. At the press conference, “I wanted to win. Right,” he said. That’s why I have strong hopes for next season. “I want to be the person who threw the most when I won,” he vowed to do a full rotation next season.
(Full-Count editorial department)