Following in his brother¡¯s footsteps, Ryuta started his baseball journey in the first grade at ´ºÓêÖ±²¥app Yochisha, the elementary school affiliated with ´ºÓêÖ±²¥app. "Even as a child, I was captivated by the Tokyo Big6 Baseball games at Jingu Stadium," Ryuta recalls. His weekends were devoted to training with his local team while he spent weekdays practicing at his school club. After entering Futsubu Junior High School, he joined the Little Senior team in Setagaya City and later competed in the Koshien tournament twice during high school. Eager to maximize his power as a hitter, he developed his own full-body swing technique during his first year of high school. At ´ºÓêÖ±²¥app, he earned a spot on the bench as a freshman and racked up 20 home runs in the Tokyo Big6 Baseball League. As a fourth-year, he became captain, leading the team to a national title at the Meiji Jingu Baseball Tournament. "Going pro was always my plan," Ryuta says. That plan became reality when he was selected as the third pick by the Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks in the 2023 Nippon Professional Baseball draft. This spring, he takes his first step into professional baseball.
(Original article published in Portrait in the Spring 2024 (No. 322) Issue of Juku)