SoftBank announced on March 12 that a two-for-one trade had been finalized, sending pitchers Takato Ogata (26) and Tomoya Inoue (23) to the DeNA BayStars in exchange for catcher Yudai Yamamoto (27).
In December 2024, SoftBank had just clinched their first league championship in four years and flew to Hawaii for a victory trip. While others embraced vacation mode, Ogata quickly sought out a 24-hour gym. “At first, they said I needed a membership. They offered a three-day pass, so I went with that. I registered and paid $25 for three days—about 4,000 yen. I found it myself,” he recalled. He walked roughly 3.2 kilometers each way to the gym, dedicating himself to reshaping his body.
On Waikiki Beach, Ogata performed bodyweight exercises within safe limits, drawing curious glances from tourists. He even ended his sessions by sprinting into the emerald-green ocean, so focused that he didn’t notice his sunglasses being swept away by the waves. “You could call it a Hawaii expedition, or my Hawaii training camp. I wanted to grasp something here before heading back,” said Ogata, a testament to his journey as a former developmental draft pick (first round in 2017) who climbed his way up.
A specific spare moment ignited Ogata’s competitive fire. During his developmental days, even when the ever-winning Hawks reached the top of Japan, he could not participate in the victory parade. That memory remains vivid. “Developmental players just wait for the parade to end. The assembly time was 9 a.m., and the fan festival started at noon. The parade was before that, so we spent about three hours waiting in the locker room. That time was humiliating. But it became a huge driving force for me. When I finally took part in the parade last year (2024), I kept that feeling close to my heart, not forgetting a single moment. That regret will continue to linger. I intend to go to an even higher level to erase it,” he said.
Ogata, a hard-throwing pitcher with a fastball clocked at 159 km/h, served as a lockdown closer in the farm system under then-farm manager Kimiyasu Kudo in 2023, recording 16 saves. “In the future, I want to become like a Major League stopper—able to come in with two outs and the bases loaded in the eighth inning to put out a fire, and also close out the ninth. It’s important to train hard now for the future. I won’t forget that,” he added. At 26, Ogata is a humble man brimming with ambition. That is who Takato Ogata is. [Contributed by Hawks beat reporter covering 2021–2025]
