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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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Matt Murton arrived in Japan today and is scheduled to join the team for spring camp tomorrow.

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4th round draft pick Kazuo Ito faced three batters during batting practice today and allowed fourteen could-be hits on seventy-nine pitches.

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Special instructor Tatsuro Hirooka worked with Takahiro Arai on his throwing today -- he had Arai throw 404 baseballs into a net over about a two hour period.

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Kyuji Fujikawa has been eating four meals a day since he first started working out this year.

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No players that worked out at Ginoza Stadium on their day off Monday.

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Six athletes that worked out with Shinjiro Hiyama in Guam this winter will be visiting spring camp some time around February 20 in order to show their support for the forty-two year old.

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Sanspo's Tigers Promise with Yutaka Wada:  If the team wins a championship, Sanspo will give away an onsen trip and Wada will hold a baseball clinic for six youth baseball teams (elementary and junior high).  If the teams does not win a championship, Wada will autograph and give away six personal items.

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Actor Ken Watanabe apparently likes the following line-up:

1: Toritani, 2: Hirano, 3: T. Arai, 4: Kanemoto, 5: Murton, 6: Brazell, 7: catcher, 8: pitcher, 9: Shibata, Shunsuke, or Nakatani.

====== UPDATE 2/8 @ 2:32am

According to Sponichi, Norihiro Akahoshi will be working with the Tigers as a special instructor.  He is expected to begin sometime during the second block of spring camp (which began on Tuesday).

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The team had the day off on Monday.

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6,500 fans were in attendance on Sunday.

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Four members of the 2011 draft class rode Tosa Kuroshio Railway's Tigers Train to Michi-no Ekiyasu on their day off on Monday.

1st round draft pick Hayata Ito and 4th round draft pick Kazuo Ito checked out the dolphins near the Renaissance Okinawa Resort on their day off on Monday.

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Tatsuro Hirooka arrived at the player hotel on Monday and will act as a special instructor for a few days beginning on Tuesday.

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Kazuya Tsutsui faced Hiroki Uemoto and 1st round draft pick Hayata Ito during batting practice on Sunday and allowed six could-be hits on fifty-four pitches.

Tomoyuki Kubota threw twenty-nine pitches to Masahiro Nakatani and allowed six could-be hits; he did not allow any could-be hits to Shunsuke on twenty-seven pitches.

Masanori Fujihara faced Issei Morita and Yamoto and allowed ten could-be hits on sixty-two pitches.  Fujihara could pitch in a practice game against Nippon Ham on February 12.

Naoto Tsuru threw twenty-two pitches to Kenichi Tagami and did not allow any hits; he threw forty-five pitches against Ryota Arai and allowed three could-be hits.  Tsuru could pitch in a practice game against Nippon Ham on February 12.

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Yutaka Wada stood in the batter's box Ryo Watanabe on Sunday to see how far along his change-up was coming.

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Kenji Jojima played center and left during batting practice on Sunday.  It was the first time he played the outfield, going back to his days of playing youth baseball.

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Shinta Hifumi took fielding practice at first on Sunday.

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1st round draft pick Hayata Ito took morning fielding practice (9am) at Kin Stadium on Sunday.  Ito chased down fifty-two baseballs over span of about thirty minutes.

Ito also had some time to watch Tomoaki Kanemoto take batting practice from behind home plate on Sunday (Wada gave him permission).

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Masashi Nohara and Yuhei Kai are both working out at Ni-gun spring camp and are candidates for a call-up to Ichi-gun spring camp.

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Kohei Shibata is still not sure when he be able to start throwing again (left shoulder).  That has not kept him from other workouts like fielding practice in the outfield and base-running practices.

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Today was the end of the first block of spring camp for the Tigers.  The team has the day off tomorrow.

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4,500 fans watched workouts on Saturday.

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Yutaka Wada hit baseballs to the catchers during extra fielding practice today.

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Masahiro Nakatani impressed fans with a strong throw from center to home plate during situational fielding practice today.

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Kenji Jojima has taken fielding practice at first and third so far during spring camp.  During batting practice today, Jojima positioned himself in left -- OF/base-running coach Koichi Sekikawa and Wada were seen giving Jojima pointers on how to play the outfield.

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Phiten had Kyuji Fujikawa try out three different insoles on Saturday.  The effectiveness of the insoles were measured using a new high-tech system that grabbed information from a gyroscope strapped to Fujikawa's hip while he threw thirty-two pitches.

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Team owner Shinya Sakai does not like the idea of announcing starting pitchers.

=== UPDATE 2/6 @ 12:45am

Via Sponichi: Fans listening to MBS Radio's Toragumi Tigers Live! on Saturday were given the following four options and asked to select which they most wanted to see this season:

• Kenji Jojima at first base
• Yasutomo Kubo used as a reliever
• Daiki Enokida used as a starter
• 1st round draft pick Hayata Ito batting lead-off on opening day

The results: 246 fans apparently were interested in Enokida as starter; 105 in Ito batting lead-off on opening day; 30 in Kubo as a reliever; and 21 in Jojima at first.

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Team owner Shinya Sakai observed practices at Ni-gun camp in Aki, Kochi today.

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Yuya Ando joined the rest of the players for practice today -- he was working out under a different training program since the start of spring camp because he was not feeling well.

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Masahiro Nakatani and Kenichi Tagami participated in early fielding practice (about 40 minutes) at Kin Stadium today.

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The Hanshin Tigers held a baseball clinic at Ginoza Stadium after practices today.  116 elementary school kids attended the clinic.

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Pitchers and position players swapped workouts during the morning session on Friday (about three hours).  During infield drills: Kyuji Fujikawa 1B and C, Ken Nishimura 2B, 4th round draft pick Kazuo Ito and Ryo Watanabe SS, Tomoyuki Kubota and Minoru Iwata 3B, Daiki Enokida C, and Takashi Toritani and Keiichi Hirano pitchers.  Randy Messenger got some time as SS while Jason Standridge worked out as 1B.

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Sanspo reports that it no longer seems like Kenji Jojima will have a shot at starting the regular season as a catcher.  A team rep told reporters on Friday that they were most likely going to go with Akihito Fujii for the start of the season.  And depending on how things go after the first few weeks of the seasons, the team will re-evaluate the situation.  Sanspo also notes that as of January, Jojima could not squat for even one minute.

Nikkan Sports adds that Jojima will not do any workouts as a catcher during spring camp (through to February 29) -- that means no catching in the bullpens.

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1st round draft Hayata Ito took fielding practice at Kin Stadium on Friday -- he spent about forty minutes fielding sixty-one baseballs launched from a machine that cost the team about 700,000 yen.  Partway through the session, he also switched glove hands.

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Shinta Hifumi would like to play the outfield, although he did order three type of gloves just in case: outfield, infield, and first base mitt.

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Tomoaki Kanemoto swung a training bat 115 times against a machine on Friday.

And Kanemoto on his shoulder after taking outdoor batting practice today: "My shoulder is around 60-70%.  All things considered, I think I swung the bat well.  I did not really pay attention to the batted balls since I was concerned about how well I was swinging the bat."

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Actor Ken Watanabe visited the team in Ginoza, Okinawa on Friday.

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The Tigers announced that Matt Murton's wife gave birth to the couple's third child, a boy weighing 3,454 grams, on February 1 (US time).  The Tigers are expecting Murton to arrive in Japan some time around February 7.

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Shunsuke and Ryota Arai participated in early morning fielding practice at Kin Stadium today.  The session lasted about 35 minutes.

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Position players worked out as pitchers as pitchers worked out as position players today.

During infield drills, position players like Takashi Toritani and Keiichi Hirano worked from the mound while Kyuji Fujikawa spent time at first.  Toritani and Yamato spent some time pitching in the bullpen while Fujikawa took BP and hit a ball over the fence.

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Yutaka Wada worked on simulated close plays at home with catchers Taichi Okazaki and Takashi Shimizu on Thursday -- Mayumi pretended to barrel into home thirty times; battery coach Yasuo Yoshida threw the ball in toward home from around second base.

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Atsushi Nomi has been keeping up with the headlines from other teams.

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2nd round draft pick Hiroaki Saiuchi tossed a bullpen session on Thursday and is scheduled to toss another on Saturday.

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Tomoaki Kanemoto could begin taking BP with the rest of the players beginning on Saturday (February 4).

=== UPDATE 2/4 @ 1:35am

Shinjiro Hiyama's person trainer, Ken Nakata, told reporters on Friday he feels Hiyama will be ready for opening day.

"When [Hiyama] first got hurt, I thought opening day would be impossible," said Nakata.  "But at this point, he is making great progress.  I think he will be ok for opening day.  Mending bones need calcium, vitamin D, and UV rays.  He also needs to continue hitting with his one hand.  And all of that is going well right now."

Hiroki Uemoto, Yamato, and Haruki Kurose took extra fielding practice this morning (starting at around 9:30am) before the start of general practices.  INF/base-running coach Teruyoshi Kuji worked with the three players for about 45 minutes.  Yutaka Wada observed the session.

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Kazuhiro Sasaki acted as a special pitching instructor today -- he gave a ten minute speech on how to throw and use the fork.

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Tomoaki Kanemoto played catch at a max distance of about 60 meters on Wednesday.

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Kyuji Fujikawa decided to have the word "bonds" stitched onto his glove.  Fujikawa originally had Xanax (glove manufacturer) stitch the Japanese word (結束) but was not happy with the balance and went with the English word.

Phrases, words stitched in Fujikawa's glove over the years

2005 - 本塁打厳禁 (no home runs)
2006 - 細心而剛胆 (meticulous and bold)
2006 (WBC) - Ｗｏｒｌｄ　Ｎｏ１
2007 - 気力一瞬, Ｏｎｅ　ｆｏｒ　ａｌｌ　Ａｌｌ　ｆｏｒ　ｏｎｅ (instant willpower)
2010 - Ｐｌｕｃｋ　ｕｐ　ｙｏｕｒ　ｈｅａｒｔ
2011 - Ｎｏｔ　ｗｏｒｄｓ　ｂｕｔ　ｄｅｅｄｓ

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A number of different coaches apparently kept a close eye on 1st round draft pick Hayata Ito during the first day of spring camp.  OF/base-running coach Koichi Sekikawa reached out to Ito while he played catch and also after fielding and base-running practice.  Yutaka Wada and batting coach Atsushi Kataoka both gave him hitting tips after batting practice.

FWIW: Ito had some problems during fielding practice on Wednesday -- he misjudged a ball in center and could not glove an easy liner while at short.  He also had some difficulty planting his feet properly before throwing the ball from the outfield.

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Fifty-one Chicken Hayata Rice Bowls (500 yen) were prepared on the first day of spring camp and all fifty-one were sold.

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Sanspo notes three focuses of the first day of spring camp:

1. Lunchtime batting practice for pitchers - Pitchers like Kyuji Fujikawa, Randy Messenger, Hiroyuki Kobayashi, Atsushi Nomi, and Jason Standridge, all spent time taking batting practice while the position players had their lunch breaks.  Pitching coach Keiichi Yabu would like starting pitchers to aim for a .200 or better batting average.
2. Bunt practices - Players, even veterans like Craig Brazell and Takahiro Arai, were required to work on their bunts.
3. Swing speed - The team's scouts recorded bat speeds for every player that took batting practice.

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The Ni-gun Tigers arrived at Kochi Ryoma Airport today and were greeted by local fans.  In the evening, they held a general meeting to go over practice schedules through to February 26.

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Yasutomo Kubo officially signed for 140M yen (down 40M yen) today.

Keiichi Hirano also agreed to a deal today: 190M yen (up 30M yen).  Hirano was originally offered 180M yen plus 20M yen in bonuses but turned it down because he wanted more guaranteed money.  The Tigers came back today with a 190M yen off with no bonuses.

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The Tigers announced on Monday that Yuya Ando missed practice because he was not feeling well and had a fever.  Ando first started feeling sick on Sunday morning and was excused from practices.  A hospital exam on Monday revealed that it was not the flu.  Ando is currently recuperating at the player hotel.

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Yutaka Wada and members of the coaching staff checked out the new Kin Baseball Stadium on Monday.  The Tigers have been given permission to use the stadium through to February 10.

The stadium still does not have any batting cages so the Tigers will probably use it as a place for younger players to run and taking extra fielding practice.

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Jason Standridge's goal for 2012: toss 200+ innings.  If he manages it, he will become the first foreign Tiger to reach the milestone since Matt Keough logged 201.0 innings in 1989.

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Randy Messenger told reporters he can not wait until the team faces the Yomiuri Giants.

"I can not wait until we play the Giants.  There is something great about the rivalry between the Giants and Tigers.  I want to face the new Giants.  They made improvements to the starting rotation and they added [Shuichi] Murata.  I can not wait," said Messenger.

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Standridge and Messenger had the day off today but spent some of it working out at Ginoza Stadium.  Workouts included playing long distance catch for about 25 minutes (they maxed out at about 60 meters).

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Batting coach Atsushi Kataoka does not want Matt Murton messing with his hitting mechanics this year -- his attempts last year did not go very well.  Kataoka plans to talk things over with Murton.

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Shinjiro Hiyama took fielding practice (37 baseballs) on Monday for the first time since he fractured his left collarbone in November.  He also played catch at a max distance of about 60 meters (total 54 throws); threw 28 pitches in the bullpen (12 to a standing catcher and 16 to a squatting catcher); and took 88 one-handed swings with his right hand during soft-toss BP.  Hiyama also took 10 swings with both hands -- he removed his left hand prior to making contact.

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Batting coach Atsushi Kataoka told reporters on Monday that Tomoaki Kanemoto will probably outdoor BP during the first block of spring camp, assuming his right shoulder is feeling fine.  If he does, it will be something he has not done since 2007.

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Takashi Toritani took a total 171 swings (including a session in the batting cages that lasted about 40 minutes) on Monday.  Toritani also gave players like Ken Nishimura and Hiroki Uemoto advice on how to strengthen trunk muscles.

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1st round draft pick Hayata Ito took 36 swings during BP on Monday.

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Kyuji Fujikawa asked the grounds crew on January 25 to change the hardness of the mound.  The grounds crew in turn provided three kinds of mounds (from soft to hard): all black dirt, mixture of black and red dirt (similar to Koshien), and mostly red dirt (used at most domed stadiums).

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Bullpen sessions:

Monday

Fujikawa threw 18 pitches to a standing catcher.  It was also his first bullpen session of the year and his first January session since 2009.  Naoto Tsuru, Kazuhito Futagami, Ryuji Wakatake, and Hirokazu Shiranita all stopped what they were doing to watch the session.

=

Tomoyuki Kubota threw 182 pitches.  Kubota has thrown 493 pitches since January 27: 109, 86, 116, and now 182.

The Hanshin Tigers unveiled new uniforms for the 2012 season today at a hotel in Onna, Okinawa.

The theme behind the new design: tradition and innovation.

You can view more images of the uniforms at the official team site and online team store.

The Ichi-gun coaching staff arrived in Okinawa today.  They were greeted by about 20 village officials at the airport.

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Yutaka Wada plans to place a lot of emphasis on fielding practice and on selecting the right members for the bullpen.  He also said he was not worried about Matt Murton arriving at spring camp late (should it come to that).

On Sunday, Wada told reporters he planned to have his advance scout check on the Yokohama Bay Stars, beginning on the first day of spring camp (they will hold off on scouting the Chunichi Dragons since they will not face them until mid April).

Advance scout Masao Iida said, "I want to see how things change with [Kiyoshi] Nakahata managing the team.  Then there is [Alex] Ramirez and whether or not he will play first.  And we know he is a good hitter so want to check him out."

The Tigers open the season against Yokohama this year.

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Takashi Toritani worked out at Ginoza from 10am until around 3:30pm today.  He hit two balls over the fence during outdoor BP.

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Training camp for the 2011 draft class at Naruohama ended today.

5th round draft pick Ryoma Matsuda returned to Osaka for his high school graduation and will rejoin the team tomorrow.

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Randy Messenger arrived in Japan today and told reporters that he already tossed bullpen sessions and batting practice.

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Jason Standridge also arrived today.

"I threw three or four bullpen sessions before coming and I am further along than I have been in the past.  I feel great, as does my right arm.  I am ready to compete," said Standridge.

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Craig Brazell worked out in the indoor training facilities at Koshien on Sunday (he arrived at around 11am).

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Masahiro Nakatani took 43 swings during outdoor BP on Sunday and hit six over the fence (four off right-handed pitchers and two off left-handed pitchers; all hit to left).

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Ryota Arai took 45 swings during outdoor BP on Sunday and hit five over the fence.  He also did some running and took some BP in the cages.

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1st round draft pick Hayata Ito used three different bats during soft toss BP on Sunday (90 swings).  All three bats were basically the same size and weight, the only difference: material (and manufacturer).  The bats: Hi-Gold North American, maple; Rawlings, white ash and maple.  Ito took 90 swings and switched bats seven times.

"I listen to the sound and I check to see how if feels when I make contact.  There are ones that seem to fit and there are ones that seem to be off the mark.  I may change the weight, but I want to leave the size the same.  Even bats made of the same material, like maple, are different based on where they come from and the manufacturer, so I really take a lot of care in how things feel on contact," said Ito.

Ito also tried a bat made of Japanese ash once, but found it too soft.

As for the ball he hit over the fence during outdoor BP: "Personally, I try to imagine hitting the ball into the gaps in the outfield and the sometimes it can go over the fence for a home run.  I do not want trick myself.  There are a lot of hitters that can make the ball fly."

After practices on Sunday, Ito spent time signing autographs as he waited for a taxi.

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4th round draft pick Kazuo Ito has natural late break on his fastball.

"I personally do not want any break...  But the bullpen catcher told me he thought the pitch would be difficult for batters to hit and that I should not worry.  That made me see there are other ways to think about it," said Ito.

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Ken Nishimura not only worked out his curve, but also his lower body, during his bullpen session on Sunday.

"I wanted to focus on how I use my lower body, so I threw curves.  If I can [also polish the to curve] to where I can use it in games, that would be good," said Nishimura.

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Keiichi Hirano told reporters on Sunday that he plans to sign on the dotted line when he meets the Tigers for a third round of salary negotiations on January 31.

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Bullpen sessions:

Sunday

Daiki Enokida threw 45 pitches.