Yuya Ishii

He was a fan of the Oyo Whales and their successor team, the Yokohama BayStars, since childhood and was a member of the Friendship Club.

He went on to Yokohama Shoko High School. In the summer of his junior year at Yokohama Shoko High School, he pitched five games in the Kanagawa Prefecture Tournament, striking out 37 batters and making it to the top eight. He was also a candidate for the 1999 professional baseball draft, but was not selected. Muneo Nakata, the scouting director of the Chunichi Dragons, later said, "I had my eye on him since high school, but because of his handicap, I waited to see how he would do until he came of age.

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