Japanese national team catcher who transferred to Yomiuri after receiving "5 years and 14 billion won"...But the existence of "Lee Seung-yeop's best friend" who was more important than money

Japanese national team catcher who transferred to Yomiuri after receiving "5 years and 14 billion won"...But the existence of "Lee Seung-yeop's best friend" who was more important than money

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"Background of transfer? Director Abe"

The Yomiuri Giants held a joining ceremony for Kai Takuya in downtown Tokyo on Wednesday. Kai, who became a free agent after the end of this season, recently signed a five-year, 1.5 billion-yen contract with the Yomiuri Giants and moved from the Softbank Hawks to the Yomiuri Giants.

Until just a few years ago, Yomiuri did not have many concerns about catching catchers. This is why "legend" Shinnosuke Abe took charge of Yomiuri's "home turf" for a long time after taking the lead as soon as he made his debut in the first division in 2001, and Seiji Kobayashi, who was called Abe's successor, took over the baton immediately. However, after the end of the 2019 season, Yomiuri's worries about catching catchers grew uncontrollably.

Kobayashi, who even wore the national team uniform, played only 10 games in the 2020 season, and had a batting average of only 0.056 while playing 64 games in the 2021 season. And the following year, his batting average for the season did not exceed 10% and he was completely deprived of his main position. Even after a while, Kobayashi's batting sense rarely recovered, and this year, manager Abe was in so much trouble that he had three catchers in the first team.

After the season ended, the Yomiuri Giants were busy recruiting Kai, who became a free agent. As a result, he successfully captured the hearts of "national team" Kai through a five-year, 1.5 billion yen contract. Kai is currently a catcher representing Japan, who trained for Softbank in 2010 and joined Softbank as a starting player in 2017, and has played in 1,023 games in 11 seasons with 587 hits, 62 home runs and a batting average of 0.223 OPS of 0.646.

Although he is not a player with outstanding offense, he can expect double-digit home runs, and his ability to stop stolen bases called "Kai Cannon" is Japan's best. Starting with the 2017 Asian Professional Baseball Championship (ABPC), he joined the Japanese national team at the 2019 WBSC Premier 12, the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, and the 2023 World Baseball Classic (WBC).

According to multiple local media outlets including Japan's Sponichi Annex, Kai said, "It's an honor. It feels like I'm starting a new baseball game," and when asked why he chose to move to Yomiuri, he said, "It's manager Abe. His presence is one of the factors that made the decision to move to Yomiuri. The coach said, "The catcher on the ground is the coach," which was impressive. Yomiuri even proposed the number 10 that Abe used to attract Kai's attention. 먹튀검증

I couldn't help but move my mind from putting on Abe's number, which is considered Japan's best catcher. Kai explained, "I've played with the coach, but I've been watching it on TV since elementary school. I remember having a huge presence as a catcher. I hope the coach will continue that kind of mind with No. 10. It's very nice to hear you say that in person, but it was a heavy word."