[Prospi A] Just before the opening! Orix Buffaloes player interview [eBASEBALL]

My name is Fujisawa and I am in charge of public relations and recruitment.

The professional baseball esports league season has arrived again this year!

The 2021 season will be held as eBASEBALL Prospi A League (Spirigue) continues to sponsor the Orix Buffaloes

▲ Photo taken from Team Representative Player Training Session Report There is a beyond logo on the right shoulder.

This is a tournament using " Professional Baseball Spirits A (hereinafter referred to as "Professional Baseball Spirits A

So this time, we interviewed three Orix Buffaloes representative players who were selected as representative players in Prospi A, which has a large number of players!

eBASEBALL Prospi A League Orix Buffaloes Representative Players

• Yusuke Morita (Melissa)
• Hiroo Kusano (komurasaki)
• Yuta Kasai (Umbrella)

interviewer

• Server side engineer: Fukui, Nishihara
• Public Relations/Recruitment: Fujisawa

Why become a professional player of Prospi A?

———First of all, please tell us how you all became players for the Orix Buffaloes.

Kusano:

I started playing Prospi A because I originally liked watching baseball, and I had been playing Prospi A since it was first released. I started it when I was in high school, so it's been about 5-6 years. At first, I just played it to kill time, but a real-time competition was being held about three years ago, and when I saw it, I had a strong desire to be like this, so I've been playing it hard ever since. .

The reason I participated in this team representative match was because I liked the Orix Buffaloes players in the app and had collected them, so I thought, ``Maybe I can win with these guys,'' so I participated. All of the top players had played to some extent, so their level was high.

Player Kasai:

The reason I chose the Orix Buffaloes is because Ichiro is a big star in the local area and likes the team, and like Kusano, I also looked at the core players of the Orix Buffaloes in the app. I chose the Orix Buffaloes because I thought this team could make it through the qualifying rounds. I was really happy that the Orix Buffaloes won the Pacific League this year.

Morita player:

I belonged to the baseball club until I was in middle school, and when I quit club activities in high school, I discovered Prospi A. I've always loved baseball, but I also love games, and when I was playing games in my free time during the baseball off-season, I got more into it than I expected. Currently, I am taking Prospi A while attending university. At that time, I couldn't imagine becoming a professional in app games, but I think the reason I continued playing was because I was playing with my friends after school in high school, and we all had fun together, so I was able to keep playing with friends around me. I think I was also very blessed.

———By the way, do Mr. Kasai and Mr. Kusano have any actual baseball experience?

Player Kasai:

I have no experience with real baseball. I've always played soccer.

Kusano:

Similarly, I have only played baseball in school classes and have been playing tennis all my life, so I have no experience with it. But I really like watching baseball.

———How much time do you spend playing Prospi A in a day?

Kusano:

There was a time when I used to work for about 6 hours a day, and it was so much fun that I lost track of time. Lately, I've been busy with my private time, so I've only been spending about 2-3 hours a day.

Player Kasai:

I'm still at university, so it usually takes about 1.5 to 2 hours. University classes are face-to-face, so commuting takes time and there are assignments to do, so I concentrate and practice in a short period of time. However, when the state of emergency was declared, I worked for about 5 to 6 hours every day. I got quite a lot of feedback from people at my university about my decision to go to the professional league, and although I didn't say it all that much like ``I've become a pro,'' when I told my good friends, they cheered me on. I felt like they were helping me out, so I want to do my best in this tournament for the sake of these people.

Morita player:

The amount of time I play varies from day to day, and to be honest, there are many days when I don't play. I think it's close to 100 hours per month. I try to stay focused, and the game tournament is about a week long, so I decide to work hard during that week, sometimes working for about 8 hours a day, and inviting friends over to practice. I am. Since I was in middle school, I've been playing different games for 6 hours a day, so I think I've always liked playing games. I like playing competitive games where you can immediately tell who is winning or losing, so I think I have a bit of a competitive aversion to losing.

———Have Mr. Kasai and Mr. Kusano played games other than Prospi A?

Player Kasai:

I was downloading and deleting various smartphone games, downloading and deleting them over and over again, but since I've always liked sports, I played two of KONAMI's games, ``Prospi A'' and ``Winning Eleven.'' is the last one left. And I think it was Prospi A that really hooked me. I started playing Prospi A a little after online battles were implemented, so there was a tournament going on, and when I tried it out, it was so much fun that I got hooked on it.

Kusano:

I've always loved games, and I've played all the popular smartphone games that everyone is playing. Among them, Prospi is more fun than the others. I'm hooked. I also like PC games, so I dabble in a variety of genres.

Professionals talk about Prospi A: “This is what’s interesting!”

———What makes Prospi A unique and interesting that other games don't have?

Kusano:

After all, there are competitive matches and tournaments are held frequently, so it's a good place to find out your current level. I've played a lot of different games, but I think Prospi A is the best.

Player Kasai:

I like the excitement of wondering what kind of players will be selected, and I also really like watching videos of YouTubers making predictions about the players. My playstyle is to analyze my opponent and fight, so I like the fact that I can do it while thinking. Even during the team championship match, I would pay close attention to my opponent's batting behavior. I think I'll study the pitching while watching past videos of the opening game against the Saitama Seibu Lions.

Morita player:

I think it's interesting that real-life professional baseball and the abilities of the players are linked. I've always been fascinated by the excitement of watching players who played well this year on TV and being able to use them in games.

Feelings towards eBASEBALL Prospi A League

———What are your expectations for this year's tournament?

Player Kasai:

After all, it's about the team winning. It is said that the Orix Buffaloes game will be the most intense in the team championship game, and since the three players made it through there, I feel that the expectations from other users are high. I think the three of us can win the championship, so I'm most looking forward to winning and achieving results.

Morita player:

It goes without saying that we won the championship that Mr. Kasai mentioned, but I personally hope that this year's Prospi A League as a whole will be extremely exciting. I think it's up to us to make this tournament a success, so I want to do my best as a first-generation player so that as many people as possible can watch it and the Prospi A League continues beyond next year.

Kusano:

Most of Prospi A's official tournaments have been individual competitions, but this will be my first team competition, so I'm really looking forward to it. I think the appeal of this game is that you can discuss strategies as a team and decide who will go first, and if the first one loses, the other two can make up for it, and show off your team play.

———By the way, are there any issues you are currently facing?

Kusano:

I'm currently practicing to improve my batting. After all, the level of professional players is extremely high, so if you don't hit, you can't win. I want to go into the tournament armed with the skills to hit in any situation.

Morita player:

I want to work hard at pitching. I'm confident in my ability to hit, and my batting average is high, but at the same time, I'm also the player who gets hit the most because of my low ERA, so I want to focus on each and every pitch in the tournament. . Even if I pitch perfectly, the top players will easily hit it, so I think it's a psychological game to find out what the opponent's goal is.

Player Kasai:

I want to improve my batting. In particular, right-handed batters are an issue, and when we play real-time matches in Prospi A, we select players from 12 teams, and all of them are left-handed batters. But when it comes to the Orix Buffaloes, not everyone can choose to be a left-handed hitter, so I think that's an issue. Moreover, there are few left-handed hitters among the players who can probably be used as current players, so I would like to further develop our right-handed hitters.

———When you are playing on your own, do you have any particular preferences for the team?

Morita player:

In the 12-team order, they are arranged in the order of batting that is easy to hit, but only three special abilities are determined, so for example, if you have "chance", you should put them around number 3, 4, and 5. I wonder if it's a good idea, and I try to alternate between right-handed and left-handed batters as much as possible. Other than that, I'm simply thinking about whether it would be best to be the number one batter because of the high activation rate of special abilities, or whether it would be best to be the number one, number two, or number three because of the high meat power.

Kusano:

The way I set up my team is not to have right-handed and left-handed batters in a zigzag pattern, but in a continuous manner. In real professional baseball, I think the No. 1 hitter is often the fastest, but in my case, all of the No. 1 to No. 9 hitters are home run hitters.

Player Kasai:

As I said earlier, I only list left-handed hitters, but I place importance not only on batting but also on defense, so I only use players who can defend to a certain extent. What I am particular about is placing Yoshio Itoi (Hanshin Tigers) at No. 1 and Kazuo Matsui (formerly Saitama Seibu Lions) at No. 2.

——— Are there any players you are paying attention to this year or teams you are marking?

Player Kasai:

Personally, I view the Fukuoka Softbank Hawks as my rival. They are a team with the highest combined batting average among their three players, and I was able to watch the team championship game, and I got the impression that they were hitting pretty well, and they have a lot of troublesome players, so they're a formidable opponent. I think it will become.

Kusano:

The focus is on the Saitama Seibu Lions, who will play in the opening game. In real life, the players in the game have such strong power hitters that they are often referred to as a ``bandit batting lineup,'' and there are also great players that I respect. So, if we use the Saitama Seibu Lions players, it gives us the impression that we're in a situation where we can't stop them, so we'd like to do something about it before then. The Orix Buffaloes have a stronger pitcher than other teams, so I think it would be a good idea to be careful about pitching.

Morita player:

There are players on teams like the Saitama Seibu Lions and Chiba Lotte Marines who have great batting averages, so if you can win when matched with those players, I think your chances of winning the championship will go up a lot. Numbers don't lie, so I want to beat players who have a proven track record in the past. Strong players may show more power than usual in the tournament, so I want to control them with my pitching.

———Finally, please tell us your enthusiasm for the tournament!

Morita player:

It's a short period of 5 rounds, but I want to do my best and try to win all 5 rounds so that I don't miss anything. There is no other way than to aim for the championship, so I want to play a match with no regrets.

Player Kasai:

For the sake of the team and the people who have been with us in practice so far, we would like to start by winning one game at a time, and hope that this will lead to our goal of becoming number one in Japan. I think so.

Kusano:

Of course, I always have the desire to come out on top, so I want to win every match. This time we will be playing as a team, so we will try to speak and act in a way that will raise the team's morale even outside of the match, and we will do our best with the enthusiasm that ``we all can win together.''

———Beyond will also support the Orix Buffaloes to become more exciting! Thank you very much for today.

The opening game of the Pacific League is Sunday, December 5th!

It was an interview in which three professional players conveyed their passion, such as how fun Prospi A is and their enthusiasm for the tournament. We will support not only the Orix Buffaloes game, but the entire Spi League tournament as well!

You can check the Orix Buffaloes game schedule on the official website, so why not check it out!

eBASEBALL Prospi A League Official Site

Orix Buffaloes team introduction page

Now, I'm Fujisawa, in charge of public relations and recruitment.

 

© ORIX BUFFALOES

©NPB

© Konami Digital Entertainment