Read it on Daily Sports Online here (Japanese) デイリーのコラムはこちら
Recently I have been working my way through a pretty cool book called Atomic Habits. It talks about how making changes in our lives are most effective when we try to make changes to our identities, rather than focusing on goals or targets. The resulting changes in identity, changes that are atomic in size (i.e., extremely small) can cause atomic (i.e., extremely powerful) results.
Which got me to thinking about NPB team slogans, particularly Hanshin Tigers slogans, in recent years. They very often are identity-forming phrases and aim to produce positive changes in the players individually and the team collectively. Take the three presented by ex-manager Tomoaki Kanemoto: “Extreme Reform” (2016), “Challenge” (2017) and “Tenacity” (2018). The idea was that the players would buy into the slogans and take them on as part of their identities. We are mind transformers. We are challengers. We are tenacious players.
And then there’s this season’s slogan: Break Through! I’ll Do It. When I think about the 2019 season to this point, I most strongly feel one player living this slogan out: third-round draft pick Seiya Kinami.
Even if you go back to draft day, he had that mentality. His comments on joining the Tigers: “Hanshin finished in last this year, but that’s gonna change when I get to play for them.” Big words from a kid who didn’t get drafted out of high school or university!
Then he let his bat (among other things) do the talking. A record-setting exhibition schedule (22 hits, most ever by a Hanshin rookie), he earned a spot at the top of the lineup on Opening Day.
And silence followed. Seventeen straight at-bats without a hit. Still, the kid never gave up on himself or his ability to get things done. On April 19 with the team down and out, he slugged a three-run home run off two-time reigning Sawamura Award winner Tomoyuki Sugano, briefly giving Tigers fans hope that the team could pull off a miracle comeback. (They didn’t, but Kinami put up another RBI in the ninth inning.)
A couple of weeks later, on May 5, he committed two errors and made a poor decision on a fielder’s choice. All in the same inning. Still, thanks to manager Akihiro Yano sticking with him, he collected a game-tying RBI in his subsequent plate appearance. Talk about having ice cold blood coursing through your veins. (And giving fans goosebumps at the same time.)
Two days later (May 7 @ Yakult), with the game all tied up, he hit the go-ahead RBI in the bottom of the 4th inning. On the hero’s podium that night, he said, “When I saw how the game was going, I was thinking in my head, ‘I really hope it’s my turn to hit with the game on the line.’ I knew I was gonna get a hit when I stepped into the batter’s box.”
On a team of guys who seem to dread high-stakes situations, this kid has really stolen my heart. Here’s to a productive year, Kinami!