The art of pitching past one's prime is being flexible — even when one's body isn't, Tokyo Yakult Swallows right-hander Ryota Igarashi said Sunday.
Igarashi, who will turn 40 next month, is tied for third-oldest pitcher in Nippon Professional Baseball after the Yomiuri Giants' Koji Uehara and the Chunichi Dragons' Daisuke Yamai. Igarashi could write a book on pitching when your body will not cooperate.
"My body tends to get stiff more easily," he said at Jingu Stadium. "We all stretch before we work out. I do pre-stretching before that."