Yomiuri Giants

The Giants have decided not to add Yoshinobu Takahashi to the active roster when regular league games resume on the 21st because he reportedly wants a little more time to prepare himself by playing in a few more Ni-gun games.

Source: Sponichi 6/19/2013

Chunichi Dragons

The Dragons held a press conference for Warner Madrigal at Nagoya Dome today.

Source: official announcement

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Motonobu Tanishige was left out of the starting line-up the last few games during Inter-league play because of his right shoulder (HBP) and lower back.

Source: Nikkan Sports 6/19/2013, Sports Hochi 6/19/2013

Yakult Swallows

Orlando Roman and Katsuki Akagawa are slated to return to the starting rotation.  Masato Furuno could be used as a sixth starter.

Source: Sanspo 6/19/2013

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Akinori Iwamura worked out at first during situational fielding practice on Tuesday.  There is a good chance he might get some playing time at first since Kazuhiro Hatakeyama was taken off the active roster.

Source: Sanspo 6/19/2013

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Nishikokun will throw out the ceremonial first pitch on the 25th (vs Yokohama at Jingu).

Source: official announcement, Nikkan Sports 6/19/2013

Hiroshima Carp

Kila Ka'aihue will make his NPB debut during a Ni-gun game against Orix on Thursday.

Source: Nikkan Sports 6/19/2013

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The media learned today that Kenta Meada's wife is pregnant with the couple's first child.  The baby is due some time in October.

Source: Daily Sports 6/19/2013

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Otani-effect?  The Carp drew 21,426 fans on Tuesday night and set a new high in attendance for the current season (weekday night game).

Source: Nikkan Sports 6/19/2013

Hanshin Tigers

1st round draft pick Shintaro Fujinami was excused from practices on Tuesday to get rest.

Source: Sanspo 6/19/2013

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After looking over game data, Blaine Boyer realized that the opposition has been hitting his change-up.

"I know what isn't working [in Japan].  It is the change-up.  Every hit I have given up has been with the change," said Blaine.

He added, "I learned that my curve is effective.  I also know that I should be fine with the fastball I have."

Source: Nikkan Sports 6/19/2013

Boyer tossed situational batting practice at Koshien today.  He faced five hitters, allowed one hit, and struck out three (Shinjiro Hiyama and Tsuyoshi Nishioka struck out swinging and Takashi Toritani struck out looking).  Blaine will most likely be added to the active roster on the 21st.

Source: Nikkan Sports 6/19/2013, Sports Hochi 6/19/2013

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Kosuke Fukudome started playing catch on Tuesday -- he threw the ball seventy times at a max distance of about fifty to sixty meters.

Source: Sanspo 6/19/2013, Nikkan Sports 6/19/2013

Yokohama Bay Stars

Sho Aranami will likely move from center to right with Nyjer Morgan move from right to center because Kiyoshi Nakahata wants the strong arm in right.

Source: Daily Sports 6/19/2013

Seibu Lions

Hideaki Wakui tossed situational batting practice at Seibu Dome today.  He faced twelve batters and gave up three hits and walked two.

Source: Nikkan Sports 6/19/2013

Softbank Hawks

Nagisa Arakaki started a Ni-gun game against Chunichi on Tuesday and scattered two hits over first five innings before allowing two runs on four hits in the 6th.  His final line: 6.0 IP, 24 BF, 89 NP, 6 H, 1 HBP, 5 SO, 2 R, 2 ER.  He also topped out at 148km/h.

Source: Nikkan Sports 6/19/2013

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Nobuhiko Matsunaka is quietly accepting all responsibility for his decision to boycott the team's Inter-league championship ceremony last Thursday.  He was suited up to play in a Ni-gun game on Tuesday, but remained on the bench for the entire game and participated in post-game activities with the other players (hi-fives on the field, bowing to the fans).  After the game, he signed autographs for about one hundred fans.  Matsunaka also visited YafuOku Dome on the 16th to apologize directly to a number of team officials, including Sadaharu Oh, for his selfish actions.  He plans to apologize to the coaches and players the moment he rejoins the Ichi-gun team.

Source: Nikkan Sports 6/19/2013, Sports Hochi 6/19/2013

Rakuten Eagles

The Eagles may call Takashi Kawai up sometime this week.  Kawai could potentially become the team's lone left-handed starter, at least until Wataru Karashima (left elbow, ETA mid-July) and Takahiro Shiomi (left shoulder, ETA around August) are ready to return.  He could also be used to help bolster the bullpen from the left side -- with Norihito Kaneto hurt, there are only two lefties in the pen: Hiroshi Katayama and Jim Heuser.

FYI: All fifty-nine games the team has played this season have been started by a right-handed pitcher.

Source: Sports Hochi 6/19/2013

Chiba Lotte Marines

Tomoya Satozaki joined the Ichi-gun team for workouts at QVC Marine today.

Source: Sports Hochi 6/19/2013

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The Marines are planning to sell two-thousand 2,000-piece puzzle sets to commemorate Tadahito Iguchi's 2,000 NPB+MLB hit.  Iguchi is currently thirty-one hits away from the milestone.

Source: Daily Sports 6/19/2013

Orix Buffaloes

Yuji Maeda tossed situational batting practice at Kyocera Dome today.  He faced six batters, allowed one hit, and struck out two.

Source: Nikkan Sports 6/19/2013

Hideki Kuriyama pulled 1st round draft pick Shohei Otani after four innings on Tuesday night because he did not want the youngster to record a win in a game where he was not especially good.

"I wanted him to get a victory, but not like that.  Otani the player did a good job.  I am being a little hard on Otani the pitcher," said Kuriyama to reporters after the game.

Sports Hochi offers a slightly different quote from Kuriyama: "Otani the player did a good job, but I was a little hard on Otani the pitcher.  It was a demonic to pull him.  But I placed the team's victory ahead of him."

Source: Sanspo 6/19/2013, Sports Hochi 6/19/2013

Otani could join the starting rotation as a five or six starter.

Source: Sanspo 6/19/2013

Otani is apparently fairly popular in Hiroshima -- all Otani merchandise sold out at Mazda Stadium and media presence was much larger than other road games (about eighty members of the media covered the Fighters, which is about twice normal, and eight TV cameras were spotted at the start of pre-game practices).

Source: Sanspo 6/19/2013

Sports Hochi asked thirty people in the Fighters' organization to select which position they felt Otani would ultimately end up playing regularly. Eighteen, including Sho Nakata and Masaru Takeda, selected pitcher; two, Dai-Kang Yoh and Hirotoshi Masui, picked position player; and ten, including Takumi Oshima, chose both.

Source: Sports Hochi 6/19/2013

Otani became the fifth player in NPB history (two-league format), first since Takao Kajimoto in 1963 (batted third), to start a game as a pitcher while hitting in the middle of the order (between three and five).

He also joined:

• Junzo Sekine (1950) as the only two players to start a game as a pitcher and bat in the middle of the order (between three and five) in the same game in their rookie seasons.
• Osamu Takechi (1950) as the only two players to start a game, bat in the middle of the order (between three and five), and collect at least one hit and one RBI, all in the same game.

Source: Sponichi 6/16/2013

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Ryo Sakakibara's wife gave birth to the couple's first child, a girl weighing 2,968 grams, on Monday.

Source: Sanspo 6/19/2013

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The Weather Girls are scheduled to throw out the ceremonial first pitch on the 25th (vs Softbank at Tokyo Dome).

Source: official announcement, Nikkan Sports 6/19/2013

The Central and Pacific League released attendance totals for both Inter-league play and the regular season (through to June 18).

The tables are big so you'll have to click in to see them.

(continue reading...)

The Marines announced that Tadahiro Ogino had ganglion cyst removal surgery on his right shoulder.  He will require about three months for a full recovery.

Doctors found a cyst in Ogino's shoulder that was about ten millimeters in diameter during an examination in late-April.  He was allowed to continue his training, but after his condition failed to improve during a one month period -- he was losing muscle because the cyst was pressing up against some nerves -- surgery became the next logical step.

Source: Nikkan Sports 6/19/2013

Yokohama Star Night 2013 will take place during a three-game series against Chunichi in August (2-4).  The Bay Stars will wearing a special alternate uniform during the three game series.

Yokohama will also be giving out replica uniforms during the three-game series: all fans on August 2 and 4 and the first 10,000 fans on August 3.  Each uniform will have a special commemorate patch on the left sleeve, a different color for each game -- silver on the 2nd, blue on the 3rd, and gold on the 3th.

Source: official announcement, official announcement

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From June 18:

Hitters

Pitchers

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Central League Updates

Added to the Roster

Chunichi Dragons

- Madrigal, Warner P

Yokohama Bay Stars

- Corcoran, Tim P

Added to the Active Roster

None

Removed from the Active Roster

Hiroshima Carp

- Umetsu, Tomohiro P

Hanshin Tigers

- Tamaki, Yutaka P
- Shimizu, Takashi C

Pacific League Updates

Added to the Active Roster

None

Removed from the Active Roster

Orix Buffaloes

- Kojima, Shuhei INF
- Nonaka, Shingo OF

* Players removed from the active roster today can be added back beginning on June 29.

Inter-league Awards

• MVP Award - Yuya Hasegawa (Softbank) - first in batting average (.418), fifth in RBI (18), first in hits (41) - set a new high for Inter-league batting average
• Nihon Seimei Award - Masahiro Tanaka (Rakuten) - first in win/loss (4-0), third in ERA (1.31), first in innings (48.0), third in strikeouts (36)
• Nihon Seimei Award - Atsushi Nomi (Hanshin) - third in win loss (3-1), eighth in ERA (2.13), first in complete games (3)

(continue reading...)

The Japan Student Baseball Association (JSBA) held a board of directors meeting in Tokyo today and unanimously approved plans for a training course that will allow former professional players to earn a license to coach at academic institutions.

Basic highlights of the new system:

• will go into effect on July 1
• there was a large gap in the number of applicants to allow in the first year (the NPB wanted 1,000 and the JSBA  wanted about 100), both sides ended up agreeing on 400
• two training courses will be offered, one by the NPB and one by the JSBA
• each course will be offered four times during the winter
• NPB courses: July 28, August 10, November 9, November 10
• NPB courses will last seven hours
• JSBA courses: in Osaka - November 21-22 and February 8-9, 2014; in Tokyo - December 13-14 and January 31-February 1, 2014
• JSBA courses will last two days and include ten lectures on a number of issues

Source: Nikkan Sports 6/18/2013, Sponichi 6/18/2013, Sankei 6/18/2013

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UPDATE 6/19 @ 9:34pm -

Additional information:

• About 300 of the 400 spots for the first year have already been set aside -- about sixty for former professional players coaching at the university level, about ninety former professional players that are training to become coaches, and about 130 officials from high school baseball federations around the country.  The first year will most likely end up being a trial run with next year being the first "official" opening of the system.
• NPB training course will take place over one day, last seven hours, and include five lectures: draft rules, history of problems between professional and amateur baseball, how to teach amateur players on building a strong body, how to prepare to become a coach, professional and amateur rules.
• JSBA training course will take place over two days and includes ten lectures (eight high school and two university).  A report will also be required after the training course.  The course will cost 10,000 yen.

Source: Nikkan Sports 6/19/2013, Daily Sports 6/19/2013, Sponichi 3/19/2013