Chunichi Dragons

General workouts at Nagoya Stadium ended today.  Players will begin to head to Okinawa in preparation for the start of spring camp.

Source: Nikkan Sports 1/25/2013

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Hirokazu Ibata, Masahiro Araki, Takuya Asao, Soma Yamauchi, and Junki Ito visited patients at the Japanese Red Cross Nagoya Daiichi Hospital today.

Source: Nikkan Sports 1/25/2013

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Takamori, Nagano mayor Motohiro Kumagai visited Nagoya Stadium and presented the team with about ten kilograms of dried persimmons.  Persimmons can help reduce fatigue and keep colds away.

Source: Sports Hochi 1/25/2013

Yakult Swallows

Kazuhiro Hatakeyama was diagnosed with the flu on Thursday.  As of now, he is still expected to head to Ichi-gun spring camp.  Plans can change depending on his health.  He might get a late start since the team does not want to risk him spreading the virus to other players.

The Swallows are asking everyone in the organization to be careful since the flu seems to be catching: Hatakeyama, Ikusei pitcher Takeaki Tokuyama, and a number of staff have already caught the virus.

Source: Sanspo 1/25/2013, Sponichi 1/25/2013

Hanshin Tigers

Kenichi Tagami trained at Naruohama on Thursday.  He and Takashi Shimizu had been working out in Aki, Kochi up until Wednesday.  They spent most of their time hitting.  Source: Daily Sports 1/25/2013

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Takeshi Hidaka is planning to use a hockey-style catcher's mask this season.

Source: Sanspo 1/25/2013

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Kosuke Fukudome reportedly started taking soft-toss batting practice on the 23rd.

Source: Sanspo 1/25/2013

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2012 draft class training camp ended today.

Source: Sports Hochi 1/25/2013

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1st round draft pick Shintaro Fujinami throws a fastball, slider, fork, change, curve, cutter, and two-seamer.  He also has two to three kinds of curves.

Source: Nikkan Sports 1/25/2013

Fujinami recorded most of his strikeouts in high school with the cutter, not the slider.

Source: Sanspo 1/25/2013

Fujinami is scheduled to attend his high school graduation on Saturday before heading to Okinawa on the Sunday.

Source: Sanspo 1/25/2013

Fujinami threw forty pitches to a standing catcher today.  It was his eighth bullpen since the start of rookie training camp.

Source: Nikkan Sports 1/25/2013

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4th round draft pick Shinya Azuhata played catch with Fujinami on Thursday.

Source: Sanspo 1/25/2013

Hiroshima Carp

The Carp pulled in about 1.6 billion yen in merchandising last season.  That's around 200 million more than the previous season.

150 million of the 1.6 billion was Shota Dobayashi related merchandise.

Souce: Sanspo 1/25/2013

Yokohama Bay Stars

Tony Blanco visited Bay Stars Stadium in Yokosuka today and practiced for about three hours.  He spent most of the time taking batting practice.  It was the first time he swung the bat in about two weeks.  Source: Daily Sport 1/25/2013, Nikkan Sports 1/25/2013

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Hitoshi Tamura worked out at Yokohama Stadium for the first time since returning to the organization via trade.  Source: Nikkan Sports 1/25/2013

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GM Shigeru Takada sees Nyjer Morgan as a possible number three hitter.

Source: Sanspo 1/25/2013

That could give the Bay Stars a three, four, five of Morgan, Blanco, and Alex Ramirez.

Source: Sports Hochi 1/25/2013

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The Bay Stars will have the six members of the 2012 draft class take trial courses at Okinawa Actors School during spring camp.  The team wants the rookies to learn how to express themselves better in public.

Source: Nikkan Sports 1/25/2013