Tetsuto Yamada’s high school days: What his mentor knows　Samurai Japan’s key player

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【WBC代表選手の恩師が語る】山田哲人（東京ヤクルト）「高卒プロへ向けて覚醒した瞬間」

　Tokyo Yakult Swallows infielder Tetsuto Yamada (graduate from Riseisha high school) is expected to be a key player in the Samurai Japan team at the World Baseball Classic (WBC), which begins on March 8.

　 In the summer of his third year in high school, Yamada hit a home run off Hiroaki Saiiuchi, a former Hanshin player, in a game against Seikougakuin high school (Fukushima) in the third round.

　After being drafted first overall by Yakult in 2010, he has been one of the best second basemen in NPB, achieving the triple-three (.300, 30 home runs, and 30 stolen bases) three times so far.

　We interviewed Tatsuo Okada, Yamada’s mentor during his time at Riseisha, and who took over as manager of his alma mater Toyo University Himeji (Hyogo) from April last year.

　Okada first saw Yamada when he was in the third year of junior high school. He received an inquiry from Young League Hyogo Itami, which he belonged to, and he visited for an inspection. The first impression was, “He’s fast and I felt like he has physical ability.”

　Everyone recognized his high ability from the time he entered high school, but Okada recalls that he felt unsatisfied with his lack of greed.

“I was really looking forward to his future, but he didn’t have any greed. Baseball is the job of a professional baseball player, right? I think that the feeling part is also very important.If that kind of thing comes out, it feels like there is a possibility in professional baseball.All the coaches were of the opinion that it would be a waste to have that kind of ability. ”

　Yamada changed in November of his second year. It was triggered when he said, “I want to go pro,” when he had an interview about his career after graduation. So Okada explained the importance of making baseball a profession, referring to his past students, such as “T-Okada (Orix) would have done this.” Immediately after that, Yamada’s behavior changed, and the results began to appear.

“I think he was really strong in his heart, not just his words. After that, I almost didn’t teach him.”

　Okada has more than 35 years of coaching experience, but as he says, “I learned a lot from Yamada,” he seems to have made good use of his achievements in his coaching career since then.

“I learned that if high school students change their minds, they will change more than expected.That’s why I began to think about how to change it from then on.”

　”The rate of growth from spring to summer was amazing,” said Okada, and Yamada’s evaluation increased even more when he became a third year student.

　And he was selected in the first round of the draft, which was not expected by Okada, and he started his life as a professional baseball player.

[page_break:”I will never be the vice-captain.”]

　Furthermore, even after becoming a professional player, he has performed better than expected by Okada. He became a regular in 2013, his third year, and achieved triple threes in 2015, 2016 and 2018. In 2015, he became the first home run title and stolen base title at the same time.

　”It’s more than I expected. I didn’t expect to become the home run king.” In addition, Okada highly evaluates not only his playing side but also his personal growth. He has been the captain since 2021 and led Yakult to two consecutive league titles. He says this was unimaginable when he was in high school.

“When he was in high school, there was talk of being the vice-captain, and he said, ‘I will never be the vice-captain. I think he’s doing a lot of things that we don’t know about.”

　Yamada has been a regular member of Samurai Japan since the Premier 12 in 2015, and has a strong impression of international competition, such as winning the MVP at the Tokyo Olympics two years ago and contributing to winning the gold medal. It seems that this competitive strength has been demonstrated since his high school days.

“I feel like he has a strong mentality for the big stage. There won’t be baseball at the next Olympics anymore. It’s not easy to win a gold medal at the Olympics.In their grade, they beat PL Gakuen, but they lost in the 9th inning, and it was Yamada who tied the score in a timely manner.”

　Okada sent a congratulatory message when he was selected as a member of the WBC. For the WBC, which will be participating in two tournaments in a row, he will send an ale as follows.

“I want you to make the most of your experience so far and do your best. I hope baseball will be as exciting as the soccer World Cup.”

Finally, he also sent words of encouragement for this season.

“I want him to be in a state where he can do his best without getting injured. I think it will be difficult to adjust with the WBC and the start of the season a little early, but for the sake of the Japanese baseball world. I want the WBC to do their best to win the championship.”

　At WBC, I want him to show a performance that meets his teacher’s expectations.

（Article by Ryo Banba）