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"Using both my strengths and potential as weapons, I aim to make the opening day first team!!"

Itsuki Ito, 4th year student, School of Sport Sciences
Ren Tawa, 4th year student, School of Education

At the Abe Dormitory on Higashifushimi Campus of Waseda University. From left: Tawa and Ito

At the 2025 Professional Baseball Draft, Itsuki Ito was selected second overall by the Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles (hereafter referred to as Rakuten), and Ren Tawa was selected by the Yomiuri Giants (hereafter referred to as the Giants), so in total two members of the Waseda University baseball team were  selected to play professionally! Ito became the second player in Waseda history to pitch a no-hitter in the Tokyo Big Six University Baseball Spring League match against Meiji University (May 19, 2025), while Tawa overcame injury to throw a 152 km/h pitch, tying his personal best, in a summer external game. We spoke to these two notable players about their memories of their four years here, campus life outside of the baseball club, and their strengths.

*The interview was conducted in late November.

-How do you feel now that you have been selected at the draft meeting?

Ito: I feel relieved. To be honest, I wasn't sure if I would be drafted, so I'm relieved to be at the starting line I've been aiming for. Currently, I'm resting my body and continuing my individual training in preparation for the joint voluntary training and camp starting in January. I hope to somehow join the first-team camp and be ready to aim for the opening day first team.

Tawa: I was more surprised that they selected me second overall than relieved. Right now, like Itsuki Ito, I'm training hard with the goal of making the opening day first team. The Giants had a fan festival at the end of November, where I got to interact with various players, put on the uniform for the first time, and was even assigned the number 30. I feel like I'm starting to see the path I'll take as a Giants player.

At the nomination speech held at Okuma Kaikan on November 11, 2025. (Left) Ito and Rakuten's scouting director, Hisashi Aikyou. (Right) Tawa and Giants' organization director, Yuji Mizuno.

--Why did you choose Waseda University, and what do you think are the unique advantages of Waseda?

Ito: I didn't have any connection to Waseda to begin with, and I had only seen one Waseda-Keio game before I enrolled. The only reason I chose Waseda was to receive coaching from Coach Satoru Komiyama. After these four years, I can graduate with the special feeling that I'm glad I came to Waseda, thanks to the environment and tradition of striving to be number one in Japan, and I think that's something that's unique to Waseda.

Ito receives a bouquet of flowers from the cheering squad

Tawa: I entered Waseda University directly from Waseda Jitsugyo High School. My seniors and classmates on the baseball team asked me to play baseball with them, so I decided to continue playing baseball for four years at university. The best thing about Waseda is the cheer song, "Konpeki no Sora".  In particular, when a point is scored in a Waseda-Keio game, I would watch from the bullpen as all the spectators in the stands linked arms and swayed side to side while singing along, and it felt like something irreplaceable.

In front of Okuma Auditorium. Tawa is holding the Waseda Bear. Second from the left is Yu Toyoshima (4th year, School of Education), captain of the cheerleading club for 2025, who also appeared in Weekly's column "People."

--Which game made the biggest impression on you during your four years with the Waseda University baseball team?

Ito: The most moving moment for me was winning the spring league as a fourth-year student. We had to win five straight games against Meiji University and Keio University, which meant overcoming adversity. The most thrilling moment was the game against Meiji University on June 4th. In the ninth inning, with the team leading by one point, we had come from behind and given up a hit. The runner on second base was tagged out by right fielder Ishigooka (Taisei Ishigooka, fourth-year, School of Social Sciences). I'm not sure we would have won without that, and it was amazing that we were able to make such a great play at the end against a strong Meiji University team in the second half.

Tawa: For me, it was the second game of the spring league against Hosei University in my second year. After giving up a game-winning home run, I thought, "I have to hold them back," and pitched, which is when I got injured. I was really disappointed that we lost the game, but now I think, "It's thanks to this injury that I was able to get this far." If it weren't for that game, I wouldn't have had Tommy John surgery on my elbow (*), and since then, I've been supported by many people, and they've been paying attention to me as I make my comeback. Also, because I got to watch my university's first championship from the stands, I wanted to pitch at Jingu Stadium as soon as possible, and that's what has kept me going to this day.

*Surgery for injuries or tears to the elbow tendons or ligaments.

-What kind of campus life did you have outside of the baseball club?

Ito: I belonged to the seminar of Professor Osamu Kuraishi  (Faculty of Sport Sciences) and studied analytical methods of sports using data. The professor's specialty was basketball, and we often studied set plays and success probabilities of shots, etc. The precision of basketball coordination based on probability theory was interesting in contrast to baseball, where you never know where the ball will fly.

Also, the School of Sport Sciences has many top student athletes from a variety of sports, and as people who live in the competitive world, it's easy to find people to talk to. I'm particularly close with a friend from the volleyball club who is active at the top level, and hearing about their mentality, routines, and practice is inspiring and makes me realize that I still have a long way to go.

Tawa: I enjoyed Professor  Koichiro Onishi's (Faculty of Education and Integrated Arts and Sciences) seminar.  We each collected and analyzed data from our favorite fields, and I chose my own pitching data as research material. Data analysis is, in a sense, the ultimate in objective perspective, and using numbers allows me to see myself as if I were someone else, which is directly linked to my actual play and extremely useful. It was also here that I made my first university friends outside of the baseball club (laughs).

With fellow members of Onishi's seminar. Tawa is second from the right in the front row.

--Please tell us about your strengths, and, based on that, what kind of player you would like to become in the future.

Ito: My strength is my game-making ability. Defense is what can break the opponent's momentum, so it's important for me to read the flow of the game as well as possible and calm the game as a starter. I think my wide range of skills is my selling point. In the future, I would like to expand my field of activity by using my game-making ability, which includes pitch type, speed, control, and all of these, while updating the mentality and wide range of skills I have developed over the past four years.

Tawa: My strength is pitching from a release angle that takes advantage of my height. There are many other areas where I can improve, for example, I think I can throw faster. I'm not as dexterous as Itsuki, but on the other hand, if I can work on those small details, I'm sure the range of my pitches will expand even further. I want to use both the strengths I've developed over the past four years and the room for improvement I still have as my weapons.

In front of the stone monument of Professor Isoo Abe, next to the entrance to the Abe dormitory at Waseda University. The words written on the colored paper are words that are important to each of them, with Ito writing "cherish the present" and Tawa writing "One thought leads to heaven."

919th

Interview, text and photography: Waseda Weekly Reporter (SJC student staff)
Suhon Kanai, 2nd year student, School of Law