Team owner Hajime Matsuda wants Kenta Maeda to watch over 1st round draft pick Yusuke Nomura.

"Mae-Ken has resolve.  I think things will go well if he can keep an eye on things.  Nomura is quiet, but he changes when he faces hitters.  [It would be help] if [Mae-Ken] can watch over [Nomura] when he goed off by himself," said Matsuda.

Incidentally, Maeda and Nomura are the only two pitchers that have yet to toss bullpen sessions since the start of spring camp.

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Reporter Asami Konno visited the team in Okinawa today.

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Don Wakamtasu observed spring camp at Okinawa Stadium today (he is friends with Kenjiro Nomura).

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1st round draft pick Yusuke Nomura is planning to toss his first spring camp bullpen session sometime during the second block.

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Takeru Imamura's new delivery did not impress pitching coach Yutaka Ono.

Via Sanspo: "I told him not to rush the throws...  He has not stability.  He is all over the place.  His currently delivery is no good.  It is a problem," said Ono.

Via Sponichi: "There is a problem with the delivery I saw today.  He is the type of pitcher that paces himself by raising his leg slowly and he was throwing too quickly.  [Rushing the delivery] messes with the release point and creates instability."

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The Hiroshima Carp play a practice game against the Nippon Ham Fighters on February 11.  Likely starters at this point: Yuki Saito (HAM) vs Yuki Saito (HIR).

Fielding/base-running coach Shinji Ko was hospitalized today after he was diagnosed with acute enterocolitis.  When he will be allowed to return to the field will be decided when he is discharged from the hospital (likely within a couple days).

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Nick Stavinoha on his batting practice outing on Wednesday: "More than swinging the bat hard, I think I just managed to hit the ball on the sweet part of the bat.  I was not aiming to hit homers nor was I thinking about them.  It was all the result of hitting the ball square.  When I hit the ball I try to put some backspin on it by hitting it hard.  And there is nothing wrong with getting good hang time."

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Yakult Swallows

Head / pitching coach Daisuke Araki is thinking about three lefties (Masanori Ishikawa, Kyohei Muranaka, and Katsuki Akagawa) during their opening series against the Yomiuri Giants.

Yomiuri Giants

Toshiya Sugiuchi did not intend to throw 70 pitches in the bullpen on Wednesday but apparently did because Tetsuya Utsumi threw 80 pitches.

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Shuichi Murata on his hitting: "First I focus on driving the ball the other way and once I get a hang of that, I turn to hitting the big ones. .. My style will be the same anywhere I go."

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Pitchers could have a chance to begin tossing BP as early as February 4.

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Bullpen sessions:

Wednesday

Ryosuke Miyaguni threw 54 pitches and struggled with his control.

Hiroshima Carp

Kenta Maeda twisted his left ankle during early training camp in Okinawa on January 27.  Even though the injury was not serious, Maeda kept his workouts light through to January 30 as a precaution.

Yokohama Bay Stars

Alex Ramirez took BP on the first day of spring camp, something he has not done over the last few years.

A ceremony was held before the start of practices this morning.  FC Ryuku (soccer) mascot Gushiken-kun also made an appearance.

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Kenta Maeda and 1st round draft pick Yusuke Nomura opted not toss bullpen sessions.

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Kenjiro Nomura would like to start using BP pitchers during the last two days of the first block of spring camp.

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Batting practice:

Wednesday

Nick Stavinoha took fifty-five swings during lunchtime BP and hit seventeen over the fence.

Bullpen sessions:

Wednesday

Kam Mickolio threw four pitches to a standing catcher and fifteen pitches to a squatting catcher.

Yakult Swallows

Yoshinori Sato threw 104 pitches last night, 29 of which hit 150km/h or faster on the radar gun.

Hiroshima Carp

Kenta Maeda struggled with his control in the first (he walked 3 batters in one inning for the first time since turning pro; he also needed 38 pitches to get out of the inning) but managed to settle down in the second (retired the side in order).  Seems part of the problem had to do with the new baseball -- he had a hard time getting used to the new baseballs each time they were swapped out (something you normally don't think about working on during bullpen sessions).

Maeda also threw 15 fork balls yesterday (out of a total 51).

Yokohama Bay Stars

Takao Obana would like to decide on his opening day starter about 10 days before the start of the regular season.   The possibilities include Naoyuki Shimizu, Tomokazu Oka, and Shogo Yamamoto.

This post will be updated throughout the day.

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Yuya Fukui (1st round) was hoping to throw 100 pitches in the bullpen yesterday, but stopped after throwing 52.  Seems he didn't have a very good session and the coaches put a stop to the session out of fear he might injure himself.

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Kenta Maeda threw 63 pitches in the bullpen yesterday.  He also threw his new fork about 5 times.

For Maeda, it was his second bullpen session in as many days (he threw 76 pitches Thursday).

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Kenjiro Nomura told reporters that he was pretty satisfied with the team's current pitching situation.

Nomura - "The thing I felt the most were the pitchers competing against each other during practices.  The good and bad will start to come out with the start of the exhibition game season, [but regardless,] this was a very productive [spring camp]."

This post will be updated throughout the day.

===== 2/25 @ 8:08pm

The Carp closed out their spring camp in Nichinan, Miyazaki today.

===== 2/25 @ 2:49pm

Pitching coach Yutaka Ono told reporters yesterday that they were still in the process of setting the starting rotation and that the exhibition games beginning on the 26th would go a long way towards determining which pitchers will be allowed to stay, and which pitchers will be demoted to Ni-gun.

As of now, Yuki Saito is scheduled to start tomorrow's game.  Jumpei Shinoda will also probably make an appearance in the same game.  Bryan Bullington will then follow with a start on Sunday.

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Takahiro Iwamoto took over an hour of extra BP yesterday.  Through 5 games Iwamoto is 8-for-16.

This post will be updated throughout the day.

===== 2/24 @ 11:38pm

Bryan Bullington threw around 50 pitches in the bullpen today.

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Fukui threw 40 pitches in the bullpen today.  He also threw his fork for the first time this spring.  Fukui isn't expected to pitch in any exhibition games until March.

===== 2/24 @ 5:40pm

Mike Schultz faced Yuichiro Mukae and Yoshihiro Maru during BP today and threw 35 pitches while allowing 3 could-be hits.

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Soichiro Amaya told reporters that he's working on keeping his swing level, something he picked up when he had a chance to work out with Norichika Aoki for one day during the off-season (in January).

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Nikkan Sports is carrying an interview with Yuya Fukui (1st round).  I'll try to translate it later, if I have the time.

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Sports memorabilia collector and appraiser Shigeo Maeno thinks the glove Kenta Maeda used last season is worth about 800,000 yen.  Maeno once placed a price tag of 750,000 yen for a Roger Clemens NY Yankees uniform.

This post will be updated throughout the day.

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The Ichi-gun roster has the day off today.

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Yesterday's intra-squad game:

Kenta Maeda threw 29 pitches, including his new fork ball 4 times.

Katsuhiro Nagakawa retired the side in order in his first appearance since 6/6/2010 (vs Orix).  He also topped out at 138km/h.

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Yuichiro Mukae and Kan Otake went fishing at Aburatsu Port (within walking distance of the team hotel) on their day off today.