Here are some easy to use links to various posts about Spring camp that have been posted at Yakyu Baka.

See also:

2012 Asia Spring Baseball Schedule

2012 Exhibition Game Schedule

The media learned on Wednesday that Shigeki Noguchi (37) will be hired as a coach for the Rookies team in Tokoname, Aichi.  A press conference will be held on Thursday.

The Rookies are an NPO team made up of players that had to leave their high school baseball teams, failed to make it into a high school, or dropped out of high school.  The team was established in 2011 with the hopes to help kids earn their high school degrees.  They are also officially recognized by the Japan Amateur Baseball Association as a Club Team.

The media learned on Tuesday that the Nippon Ham Fighters will be giving LHP Yoon-Hee Nam (24) a tryout.  No word yet on when the tryout will take place.

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Career Stats

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Nikkan Sports reports that Kenshin Kawakami (36) married a US citizen last year.  Sports Hochi Osaka adds that her name is Mina Patterson (29) and that she is half Japanese (mother is Japanese).

Kawakami is slated to toss batting practice on February 10.

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Takeshi Yamasaki spent some time giving Naomichi Donoue and Ryoji Nakata pointers on hitting on Tuesday.  Masahiko Morino and Hirokazu Ibata have also looked to Yamasaki for some advice as well.

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Morimichi Takagi threw 205 pitches during batting practice on Tuesday (his first outing as a BP pitcher since the start of spring camp) -- he threw eighty-eight pitches to N. Donoue and 117 pitches to Daiki Yoshikawa.

Before practices on Tuesday, Takagi handed out over 100 autographs.  After practices, he spent about an hour signing autographs.

====== UPDATE 2/9 @ 1:52am

Former head coach turned Sponichi baseball analyst, Shigekazu Mori, visited spring camp in Chatan on Tuesday.

Katsuki Akagawa threw seventy-two pitches during batting practice and allowed seven could-be hits, including two over the fence.  He also struggled with his control.

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Junji Ogawa was not happy about the outfielders making bad throws in the outfield during situational BP (with base-runners) today.

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The Swallows' new pitching machine (est 2.5M yen) broke on the first day of use (before anyone had a chance to hit against it).

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Special instructor Tsutomu Wakamatsu gave Masayoshi Miwa, Ryosuke Morioka, Yuhei Takai, and Tsuyoshi Ueda tips on how to bunt after general practices on Tuesday.

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Tsubakuro visited spring camp in Urasoe on Tuesday in connection with a segment for a TV program.

====== UPDATE 2/9 @ 1:52am

Yoshinori Sato is working on keeping his gloved hand down during his delivery.

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The Ni-gun Giants had the day off today.

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For the fourth time during spring camp, the Giants decided to start practices indoors today because of the cold weather.

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Tetsuya Yamaguchi faced Hisayoshi Chono and Hayato Sakamoto during batting practice today and threw forty-seven pitches.

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Taishi Ota stayed back after general workouts for about an hour of extra fielding practice in the outfield today.

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Kentaro Nishimura is scheduled to start an intra-squad practice game on February 12.

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Sanspo reports that the first six spots in the line-up could go: Hayato Sakamoto, Daisuke Fujimura, Hisayoshi Chono, Shinnosuke Abe, Shuichi Murata, Michihiro Ogasawara.

Nikkan Sports mentions that Tatsunori Hara could try something a one thru five of: Chono, Sakamoto, John Bowker, Abe, Murata.  It is also possible that Ryosuke Miyaguni gets a shot at being the sixth starter in the rotation.

Regardless, it seems Hara will reserve the four and five spots for Abe and Murata.

====== UPDATE 2/9 @ 1:54am

Fujimura will be using lighter cleats this year, from 330 grams to about 300 grams.

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Shun Tono is working on a new delivery where he does not raise his arms above his head when he lifts his left leg.

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Sponichi reports that Hara wants his base line-up to be Sakamoto batting first, Chono batting third, Murata batting fourth, and Abe batting fifth.  From there, players can be moved around.  For example: if someone different were to bat third, then Chono could move to batting lead-off with Sakamoto dropping down to the seven hole.

Regarding the outfield spots, Sponichi mentions, in a separate article, that Chono will be treated as the everyday right fielder.  Bowker and Yoshinobu Takahashi will battle it out for left, and Tetsuya Matsumoto and Ota will compete for the CF job.

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Matt Murton joined the team for practices today.  His workouts included warm-ups, playing catch, running, fielding practice, and batting practice against a machine.

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1st round draft pick Hayata Ito, Masahiro Nakatani, Kenichi Tagami, and Ryota Arai took extra fielding practice (about forty-five minutes) in the outfield at Kin Stadium today.  Takashi Toritani and Kentaro Sekimoto took extra fielding practice, under special instructor Tatsuro Hirooka, in the infield at Ginoza Stadium.

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Norihiro Akahoshi worked with players on their base-running skills (stealing bases) today.

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Shinjiro Hiyama started taking fielding practice a distance of about thirty meters (fielding and throwing) on Tuesday.

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Kenji Jojima started working on gloving one-hop throws from short and third during practices on Tuesday -- Takashi Toritani and Keiichi Hirano from short and Kentaro Sekimoto and Ryota Arai from third.

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4th round draft pick Kazuo Ito faced Issei Morita, Haruki Kurose, and 1st round draft pick Ito during batting practice on Tuesday.  He threw eighty pitches and allowed eighteen could-be hits.  Morita and Kurose each collected five could-be hits.  K. Ito threw a total thirty pitches to H. Ito, which resulted in twenty-three swings and eight could-be hits.

Takumi Akiyama faced Nakatani, Shunsuke, and Tagami on Tuesday and allowed five could-be hits on sixty-three pitches (or sixty-one pitches).  Nakatani collected one could-be hit and Shunsuke two could-be hits.

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Takahiro Arai's two hour workout with special instructor Hirooka on Tuesday began with making throws into a net while sitting in a chair.  From their, he got off the chair and moved further and further away from the net.  Toward the end, Yutaka Wada joined the group and started hitting grounders to Arai.  All told, 404 throws in the net along with fielding 112 grounders.

Sports Hochi Osaka provides a little more detail:

14:15 - a mirror is placed behind the net; picking up baseballs tossed to him with his bare right hand and then throwing them into a net while seated
14:45 - throwing into a net about five meters away after picking up baseballs tossed to him
15:10 - picking up baseballs tossed to him with his bare left hand
15:26 - picking up baseballs tossed to him with a glove
15:40 - fielding grounders hit by Wada and throwing into a new fifteen meters away
16:00 - picking up baseballs tossed to him and throwing into a net about five meters away
16:20 - end

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1st round draft pick Ito made a change to his batting stance on Tuesday, with help from batting coach Atsushi Kataoka: he dropped his hands down a little.

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The front four in the starting rotation will likely include Atsushi Nomi, Minoru Iwata, Randy Messenger, and Jason Standridge.  The remaining two sports are up for grabs and could go to Yuya Ando and Hiroyuki Kobayashi.

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The Murton's named their newest addition to family, Andrew Jacob Murton.

Matt Murton is working on starting up a personal site in Japanese.  He has also prepared some baseball cards and 5,000 bracelets with the phrase "Kami-sama wa watashi-no chikaradesu."

Murton did a lot of lifting during the off-season and gained three kilograms (currently weight 103kg) in the hopes of developing more opposite field power.  He also brought training equipment to the hospital so that he could work out while waiting for his wife to give birth.

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Takeru Imamura faced Yoshihiro Maru and Shogo Kimura during batting practice today and allowed seven could-be hits on forty-eight pitches. (Daily Sports) Or, thirty-four swings and ten could-be hits. (Nikkan Sports)

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Maeda Kenta's wife, Saho Narushima, visited spring camp in Okinawa today to show her support.

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Yuya Fukui turned twenty-four today.

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1st round draft pick Yusuke Nomura is scheduled to toss another bullpen session on Thursday.

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Takehiro Ishikawa was named team captain during a general meeting that was held before practices today.  He was apparently selected by the players.

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Alex Ramirez starting working out today after missing the last few days with the flu.

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Shun Yamaguchi threw forty-eight pitches during batting practice today.

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Kiyoshi Nakahata's schedule on his first day back (February 7):

07:00 breakfast
09:20 general team meeting
10:13 arrival at Kadena
10:40 opening clap
11:05 running
12:28 move to Ginowan
13:15 observe tryouts for three foreign players, took over at first partway through
13:20 lunch
15:11 staff meeting
16:07 leave the stadium
16:14 arrival at team hotel

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The Hawks had the day off today.  And despite the day off, forty-nine players reported for practice today (coaches invited players they felt needed extra work).

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Brad Penny arrived in Japan today.  The team will hold a press conference to introduce Penny on Thursday.

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Nagisa Arakaki faced Keisuke Kaneko and Kenta Imamiya during batting practice on Tuesday and threw forty-nine pitches.

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According to Nikkan Sports, Takahiro Mahara's right shoulder problems are similar to what he experienced when he missed the start of the 2008 season with shoulder inflammation and did not make it back to the active roster until July.

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Sadaharu Oh has his eyes on Yuki Yanagita.

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Takahiro Mahara's workouts on Tuesday included warm-ups, running, and various other training exercises.  He is currently not allowed to throw the baseball around.