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Takahiro Shiomi is working on a new change-up and screwball.

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Rakuten chairman Hiroshi Mikitani visited the team in Kumejima, Okinawa today.  A team BBQ was held outside of the player hotel.

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4th round draft pick Takero Okajima wears wrist bands weighing 500 grams during fast-paced soft-toss BP (one swing a second).

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Early morning practices begin at 7:30am with about thirty minute of warm-ups.  That is followed by about an hour and half of batting practice.  On Friday, Hiromoto Okubo added "early meetings" to the schedule, right after early morning batting practice.  These meetings will be geared toward helping players go over issues they need to work on.  They will also provide players with an opportunity to meet with a team scout on an individual basis.

Teppei, Akihisa Makida, and Ryo Hijirisawa were the first three players called in for early meetings on Friday (about ten minutes each).

Assuming this goes well, Okubo plans to continue holding these kinds of meetings throughout the course of the season.

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