Atsushi Nomi's next start will likely be against the Yomiuri Giants (at Koshien) on April 6.

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Yutaka Wada on the Yakult Swallows: "They were the quickest team to get used to the new baseball.  They know how to score runs.  They also mix in a good running game, so we need to keep them off the base paths."

He continued, "[If runners get on base,] the pitcher will not be able to out 120% of his focus on the batter.  And while it is best not to put runners on, it also is not good to be too careful, otherwise the hitters will get to you."

Wada also said, "In fact, we need to do what they are doing.  The first two batters in the line-up are keep.  We can not give anything away on defense.  And we need to get on base."

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Wada plans to continue giving Tomoaki Kanemoto periodic days off this season to keep him fresh.

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Matt Murton will likely bat higher up in the batting order, but for the rest of this week, he will probably bat sixth.

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Pitching coach Keiichi Yabu told reporters on Tuesday that Kyuji Fujikawa, Shinobu Fukuhara, Daiki Enokida, and Kazuya Tsutsui were given the entire day off after the game was called.

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Team owner Shinya Sakai will have team president Nobuo Minami travel with the team on most road trips this season.

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The Tigers announced today that they will be giving away silicone wrist bands for every replica uniform they sell between April 6 and May 6.  They also announced that their lunch box competition will be taking place between April 6 and June 11.

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The Tigers will be giving away posters commemorating Wada's first victory between April 13 and April 15.

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A thirty-second video rally clip featuring former pro wrestler Antonio Inoki will be played after the top of the 5th inning during all home games at Koshien this season, beginning on April 6.

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A special Wada section will be set up at the Museum of Hanshin Koshien Stadium bewtween April 6 and July 22.

Matt Murton felt some tightness/pain in his left hamstring on Friday and was allowed to return to Osaka today.  The team will monitor Murton as he continues his workouts at Koshien.

Shunsuke was also sent back to Osaka because he was not feeling well.

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Atsushi Nomi will likely get one more start before the regular season: March 23 vs Orix at Kyocera Dome.

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1st round draft pick Hayato Ito went 0-for-3 with a walk today and is now 2-for-14 in exhibition games.  The Tigers still plan to give him a few more looks.

On Monday, batting coach Atsushi Kataoka spoke to Ito for about ten minutes in the hopes of helping him maintain a positive outlook on things and to give him some space to vent.

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Atsushi Nomi is scheduled to pitch five innings during his next exhibition game start on March 16 (vs Lotte).

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Hiroyuki Kobayashi is expected to start Wednesday's game against the Yakult Swallows.

Kobayashi and Yuya Ando are both competing for spots in the starting rotation.

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Yasutomo Kubo's workouts at Koshien today included playing catch and running.  Kubo pitched in his first game on March 11 against the Yomiuri Giants in relief.  He will likely start the next game he pitches.

His first regular season start could also come against the Yakult Swallows (April 3 - 5 at Jingu).

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Akihito Fujii and Shinjiro Hiyama are still scheduled to take situational batting practice on Wednesday.

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Sanspo notes that Kenji Jojima is at his ideal weight of eighty-seven kilograms.  Jojima lost about ten kilograms before re-gaining five during spring camp to reach his current eighty-seven.

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Koshien Stadium released their new list of player lunch boxes for the 2012 season.

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The Tigers attended a team rally at an Osaka hotel on Monday.  Yutaka Wada made a heated speech and finished by saying that he believed in all his players and that their one goal this season is to win.

Team owner Shinya Sakai and team president Nobuo Minami were apparently impressed/satisfied with Wada's speech.

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One Ni-gun player was diagnosed with the flu (type B) on Sunday.

====== UPDATE 3/14 @ 12:45am

Murton will be using special custom insoles made by Phiten (the same kind Kyuji Fujikawa ordered during spring camp) to help him with his right big toe problem.

FYI: There was some concern it might be gout but it seems that is no longer the case.  The team is still not sure what the problem is/was.

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Team owner Sakai told reporters on Monday that he spoke to Yokohama Bay Stars' owner Makoto Haruta on Thursday (March and offered a kind warning not to take baseball lightly (not that he was).

1st round draft pick Hayata Ito went 0-for-4 today in a Kyoiku League game against the Chunichi Dragons.  He was also picked off first in the 1st inning and committed an error in the 1st inning that led to a run.

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Matt Murton did not take part in pre-game practices at Koshien today due to swelling at the base of the big toe on his right foot.  He also did not play in today's exhibition game.  There are currently no plans for him to go to the hospital -- the team will continue to monitor his toe.

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A number of players, including Takashi Toritani and Kentaro Sekimoto, worked on extending their leads off first base, by a half step to a whole step, during practices on Friday.

"I could see the runners well from the third base dugout.  Softbank players had leads that were about a half step further.  And it was not just one player, but three to four of their players were close or over the dirt cut-off.  They set a good example.  I want to make use of anything that might be helpful," said Yutaka Wada.

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Atsushi Nomi could get exhibition game starts on March 16 vs Lotte and March 23 vs Orix.  And assuming Nomi gets the opening day start, he and Minoru Iwata could start games against the Yomiuri Giants during their second starts of the season (April 6 - 8 at Koshien).

Both pitchers, and Jason Standridge, pitched in today's game against the Nippon Ham Fighters.  Part of the reason why all three pitchers threw today were because they did not want to pitch them against the Yomiuri Giants tomorrow.

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Randy Messenger and Yasutomo Kubo could be the second-half of the starting rotation that pitches in the second series of the year (vs Yakult, April 3 - 5).

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Shunsuke wore a catcher's mask while taking batting practice on Friday.  Why?  It was no ordinary session -- he stood over home plate and swung at pitches head on.

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Shinjiro Hiyama could play in his first game as early as March 17: Ni-gun, Kyoiku League, vs Softbank Hawks at Naruohama.

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After swinging at about 100 pitches during soft toss batting practice on Friday, Akihito Fujii spent about seven minutes hitting baseballs thrown to him by Ikusei coach So Tsutsui.

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Kobelco Steelers' (rugby) manager Seiji Hirao visited the team offices in Nishinomiya, Hyogo on Friday.

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Former Hanshin Tiger Randy Bass attended FOODEX Japan 2012 to promote Basu's Triple Crown product line -- eight items, including jam, salsa, and beef jerky.

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Jason Standridge worked out at the indoor training facilities at Koshien today.  He also tossed a light bullpen session.  Standridge last pitched in an game on February 23 (intra-squad).

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Atsushi Nomi could start an exhibition game against the Seibu Lions on March 9.  He is slated to toss about five innings.

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Shinjiro Hiyama wanted to get his eyes used to pitches and stood in against some pitchers tossing sessions in the bullpen today.  He also spent about seventeen minutes taking indoor batting practice.

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Team owner Shinya Sakai, team president Nobuo Minami, OB chairman Kozo Kawato, and others visited Shigisan in Ikoma, Nara today to pray for a successful season.

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Nikkan Sports mentions that Atsushi Nomi and Minoru Iwata will likely get starts during the opening series (March 30 - April 1, vs Yokohama at Kyocera Dome)

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Yutaka Wada worked with Matt Murton on his hitting for about thirty minutes on Monday.

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The Ni-gun team headed to Fukuoka on Monday for two Kyoiku League games against the Softbank Hawks at Gannosu Stadium.  There was some talk about Kohei Shibata traveling with the team to get some playing time on defense, but he ended up staying back and working out at Koshien Stadium.

Said Shibata, "I want to get back to playing defense as soon as possible, but nothing good can come of a situation in which I am still feeling a little uncertain [about my left shoulder].  I will have the coaches and trainer take a look [at my shoulder] again tomorrow."

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Hiroyuki Kobayashi is scheduled to start an exhibition game against the Softbank Hawks on Wednesday.  Depending on how he does, it could also end up being his last chance as a starter.

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Kyuji Fujikawa spent some time hitting grounders to other pitchers during workouts on Monday.

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Ikusei pitcher Robert Zarate was sent back down to Ni-gun on Monday after two back-to-back solid exhibition game outings.

"We [currently] have no plans to pitch Zarate up here again in the immediate future," said pitching coach Takashi Yamaguchi.  He added, "We want him to continue polishing his skill set so that he will be ready to pitch well when we call him up again the next time."

The Tigers had the day off today.

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Akihito Fujii was examined at an Osaka hospital on Wednesday and diagnosed with a left oblique strain.  No word on how long it was take for a full recovery, but the team is apparently preparing for the worst, which would be beginning the season without him.

Shinji Komiyama, Takashi Shimizu, and Taichi Okazaki are expected to pick up the slack.

FYI: Sponichi notes that it could take Fujii anywhere from three weeks to a month and a half for a full recovery.

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Pitching coach Takashi Yamaguchi told reporters on Wednesday that the competition for the last spot in the starting rotation will take place over a four game period between March 3 and March 7.  Yuya Ando, Hiroyuki Kobayashi, Naoto Tsuru, and Tatsuya Kojima are each expected to pitch.

The first five pitchers will likely be: Atsushi Nomi, Minoru Iwata, Randy Messenger, Jason Standridge, and Yasutomo Kubo.

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Nomi threw about 1,600 pitches during spring camp.  That is a team high.

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Takumi Akiyama stopped his bullpen session short on Wednesday due to tightness in his leg(s).  While it does not appear to be serious, the team will observe Akiyama over the next few days to see if they need to make adjust their pitching plans moving forward.

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The media learned on Wednesday that Masahiro Nakatani will be sent down to Ni-gun on Friday.  Over seven games in February, Nakatani went 3-for-22 with no homers and no RBI.  The Tigers decided to send him down to Ni-gun to give him more chances to play and because the Ni-gun team will need another catcher since Fujii will likely miss some time.

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Atsushi Nomi will not travel with the team to Fukuoka and will instead prepare for an exhibition game start against Seibu at Koshien on March 9.  From there he will get two more exhibition game starts (March 16 vs Lotte at QVC and March 23 vs Orix at Kyocera Dome) before the opening day start on March 30 (vs Yokohama at Kyocera Dome).  This schedule will allow Nomi to pitch on six days of rest.

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Tomoaki Kanemoto will likely begin playing on a regular basis beginning on March 6 (exhibition game vs Softbank at Yahoo Dome).  Assuming no problems, he could also play some left during a five game exhibition game stretch at Koshien that begins on March 9.

On Wednesday, after batting practice, Kanemoto played some catch out in left at a distance of about sixty meters.  He remained in left during live batting practice and finished things off with some running.

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1st round draft pick Hayata Ito swung the bat 210 times on Wednesday.

Ito's workouts at Naruohama today lasted about two hours (from 9am to 11am) and included weight training and batting practice.

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The Tigers saw a drop in attendance during spring camp this year: they drew 58,300 while holding spring camp in one location (Ginoza, Okinawa) compared to 68,400 last year when they held spring camp in two locations (Ginoza, Okinawa and Aki, Kochi).

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Some batting stats through Wednesday:

• 1st round draft pick Ito is 5-for-24 with one RBI over eight games.

The Tigers closed out their spring camp in Ginoza today.  Yutaka Wada selected Ryota Arai as his Spring Camp MVP.

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Via Sanspo, Wada on his opening day starter: "I decided early on.  All I need to do now is let them know."

Sanspo figures it will be Atsushi Nomi.

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Akihito Fujii started feeling discomfort in his left flank two to three days ago and returned to Osaka before the team closed out their workouts in Okinawa today.  Fujii did not play in Tuesday's practice game against the Yokohama Bay Stars.  There is currently no timetable for his return.

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Takahiro Arai hit a homer out to right during Tuesday's practice game against the Yokohama Bay Stars.  Arai has hit just one homer out to right over the last two years -- one of seventeen in 2011 and none of nineteen in 2010.

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Some batting stats through Tuesday:

• Yamato is 12-for-30 with one homer and eight RBI over nine games.
• Takahiro Arai is 5-for-9 with one homer and three RBI over four games.

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Yasutomo Kubo did not do anything throwing today because he felt some tightness in his right shoulder.  He instead focused on things like running and strengthening exercises.

Pitching coach Takashi Yamaguchi told reporters he was not sure when Kubo would be able to throw again.

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1st round draft pick Hayata Ito took ten practice swings in front of batting coach Atsushi Kataoka before practices today and was cleared to begin taking batting practice again.  During soft-toss BP, Ito used a bat Yoshinobu Takahashi (YOM) gave him on Sunday.  He also took regular batting practice.  Assuming no problems, he will most likely play in Wednesday's practice game against the Rakuten Eagles.

Incidentally, Yutaka Wada told reporters on Monday that even if Ito is not capable of playing in any games because of his right wrist, he still plans to have him attend games because there are plenty of things he can learn just by being in the dugout.

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Kenji Jojima told Norihiro Akahoshi that his right elbow is a ticking time bomb -- his career would effectively be over if he ruptures the remaining tendons in his right elbow.

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Atsushi Nomi is scheduled to start an intra-squad game on February 23.

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Some of the players that worked out on the team's day off on Monday:

• Masahiro Nakatani took 133 swings against a pitching machine.
• Issei Morita took eighty-eight swings against a pitching machine that throws curves.
• Kenichi Tagami spent about fifty minutes taking batting practice against a pitching machine.
• Haruki Kurose took some batting practice against a pitching machine.  He also spent some time swinging the bat in front of a mirror.
• Shinji Komiyama spent about fifty minutes taking batting practice against a pitching machine.

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Matt Murton, Randy Messenger, and Jason Standridge unwinded on Monday by playing some ping-pong.

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Wada appeared on ABC's Cast on Monday and said:

• ...he is planning to play as many different players as possible during an intra-squad game on February 23.
• ...that while Takahiro Arai is more or less the clean-up hitter at this point, Tomoaki Kanemoto may also need to be considered since he is swinging the bat well.
• ...both Murton and Craig Brazell are also expected to play on February 23.
• ...that Yamato will likely join 1st round draft pick Ito, Shunsuke, Ryo Asai, and Tagami as candidates to play center.
• ...that Takashi Toritani, Hiroki Uemoto, Yamato, and Keiichi Hirano will be considered for the top two spots in the batting order.  He also said that he was thinking Murton and Toritani could bat one or three in the line-up (inter-changeable; he likes Murton's speed and Tortani's ability to get on  base).

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Takahiro Arai's Sanspo Tigers' Promise: win another batting title and become the first Tiger since Randy Bass (1985-1986) to win batting titles in consecutive seasons.  If he succeeds he will be presented with 50,000 yen in clothing for his children.  If he fails he will give a Sanspo reader an autographed game-used bat and glove.

Arai is scheduled to play in the intra-squad game on February 23.

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Team president Nobuo Minami is not against announcing starting pitchers, but does not want to make changes to the rule just to be like the Pacific League.  He also does not think the rule should apply to Climax Series and Nippon Series games.

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The Tigers had the day off today.

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Masahiro Nakatani spent about forty minutes in the batting cages on his day off today.  Nakatani batted clean-up in two practice games and went 0-for-8.

He also took extra fielding and batting practice after Tuesday's practice game against Hiroshima -- he chased down 112 baseballs during fielding practice and saw 142 pitches during batting practice.

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Yamato returned to Ginoza after Tuesday's game and spent about an hour on bunt practices.

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Issei Morita, Shunsuke, Kenichi Tagami, Haruki Kurose, Ryota Arai, Hiroki Uemoto, and Yamato were amongst the other players that worked out at Ginoza Stadium today.

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Valentine's Chocolates Rankings: Yutaka Wada (15), Tomoaki Kanemoto, Kyuji Fujikawa, Shinobu Fukuhara (14 each), Shinjiro Hiyama (9), Ryota Arai (8), Hiroki Uemoto (7), Yuya Ando, Keiichi Hirano, Takahiro Arai (6 each).

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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.