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.

Kyuji Fujikawa is scheduled to pitch two innings in relief during an exhibition game against the Orix Buffaloes on March 4 in Haruno, Kochi.  It will be Fujikawa's first outing in Kochi since 2/28/2010.

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Daiki Enokida's start today was his first since 3/29/2011 (practice game vs Chunichi).

The Tigers are planning to use Enokida as a reliever this season but also want to keep their options open in case someone in the starting rotation falters/gets hurts.  It is also possible he could move into the rotation depending on how other relievers fare during the season.

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Craig Brazell contacted his wife in Alabama on February 22 and asked her to send him the outfield glove he used back in 2003.  That glove arrived in Oknawa a few days ago.

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Nikkan Sports notes that Kenji Jojima has been trying to get into the heads of base-runners at first base by shouting out things like, "Hey, that is a good slide step, good slide step!"

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1st round draft pick Hayata Ito swung the bat 713 times on Monday.

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The Ni-gun Tigers closed out Aki camp today.

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It appears Yutaka Wada will use Yasutomo Kubo as a starter this season.

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Kyuji Fujikawa would like to try and throw his slow curve at under 100km/h.

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The Tigers originally planned to work on plays involving signs today, but pushed their plans up a day because of the rain out on Sunday.

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1st round draft pick Hayata Ito stayed back after practices on Sunday and spent about an hour hitting 392 baseballs.  His workouts ended at around 5:20pm.

Incidentally, Ito also swung the bat about 300 times before hand (during regular BP and a first round of extra batting practice).

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Shinjiro Hiyama took fielding practice in center at Naruohama on Sunday.  It was a first since his injury.

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Tomoaki Kanemoto will likely begin playing left field on March 9.  He is also slated to play left in the two exhibition games against MLB teams on March 25 and 26.

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Craig Brazell took some extra fielding practice on Sunday.  OF/base-running coach Koichi Sekikawa gave Brazell tips on how to use his feet when throwing the ball -- fifteen throws after fielding grounders and four throws after catching fly balls.

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Matt Murton told reporters on Sunday that he wanted to play in every remaining game until opening day (practice games, intra-squad games, and exhibition games).  Sanspo seems to think he meant only exhibition games.  In either case, at least seventeen games.

Murton also made sure to spend some time signing autographs on Sunday despite the rain.

Wada hinted on Sunday that he might try batting Murton in a slot other than first and third.

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The Tigers added eleven Mitsuya Cider Box Seat sections on the first base side (five for five people and six for four people).  That is in addition to the seventeen they already have on the third base side.  Tickets for this and other sections at Koshien Stadium will go on sale to the general public beginning on Tuesday.

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The media learned on Sunday that the Tigers are continuing to keep an eye on Ryota Igarashi and have apparently told his agent that they will be interested if he decides to return to Japan.

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Former Tiger Masayuki Kakefu participated in a talk session held at the Museum of Hanshin Koshien Stadium on Sunday and told fans he was against the idea of playing Brazell in left.  He also said the Yomiuri Giants will likely take the Central League and that the Tigers could end up finishing anywhere between 2nd place and 5th place.

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Actor Takuro Tatsumi visited Ginoza camp on Sunday.

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The Tigers have decided to play an intra-squad game at Ginoza on Monday.  Players that were supposed to play in Sunday's rained out game will primarily be used during he intra-squad game.

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The Tigers spent about forty minutes behind closed doors on Sunday, working on plays involving signs.

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Yasutomo Kubo likely will not pitch in any games (or game-like situations) until early March.

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Yutaka Wada told reporters on Saturday that Craig Brazell's primary position is still first base and that being able to play the outfield will give him another option when thinking about how to spread playing time around with other players like Tomoaki Kanemoto and Kenji Jojima.

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Pitching coach Keiichi Yabu sees Tatsuya Kojima as a long reliever and not necessarily as a starter.

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Shinjiro Hiyama's workouts at Naruohama on Saturday included: running outdoors, playing catch indoors, and five sets of fifteen swings during batting practice (hitting off a tee, switching back and forth between batting right-handed and batting left-handed).

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Including his bullpen session on Saturday, Akira Iwamoto has now thrown over 1,600 pitches during spring camp.

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Yasutomo Kubo (coming back from right shoulder tightness) played catch off the bullpen mound on Saturday before tossing a session with the catcher squatting.  Kubo later told reporters he was feeling ok.

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Takumi Akiyama is scheduled to make an appearance in Sunday's exhibition game against Chunichi.

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1st round draft pick Hayata Ito swung at about 200 pitches during soft-toss batting practice (focusing most of the session on his left hand since he is still working his way back from right wrist pain) on his day off on Friday.

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Masahiro Nakatani swung at about eighty pitches during batting practice on his day off Friday.  He also recorded the session and spent some time reviewing the footage.

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Yutaka Wada would like the team to win their Tuesday and Sunday games because a Tuesday win will allow them to start the week on a positive note and a Sunday win will be a good way for fans to end their weekends and the players to end their week.

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Through Friday:

1st round draft pick Ito is 3-for-17 with one RBI over five games.

1st round draft pick Hayata Ito took some soft-toss batting practice during his day off today.

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Through Thursday, Yamato is 10-for-22 over six games.

The Tigers have the day off on Friday.

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Kohei Shibata spent about fifteen minutes taking batting practice against pitching machines at Ni-gun camp today.  Shibata has been rehabbing at Kochi camp because of inflammation in his left acromioclavicular joint (shoulder).

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Craig Brazell worked out in left during pre-game fielding practice on Wednesday.  Brazell was seen making strong throws to second, third, and home.

"I played some right and left four or five years ago, so this is not new to me," said Brazell.  "I checked on a few things while remembering what I did.  If I am going to do this, I do not just want to stand around, I want to do it right.  I think I did ok throwing the ball today.  I threw them a little high.  Still need more work with my feet.  I will it will get better if I do some throwing for a week or two."

He then added, "I will be catcher during tomorrow's game.  Just kidding.  I will probably play left."

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Yuya Ando has dropped his arm angle a little (three-quarters).  On his outing on Wednesday: "I was able to throw good pitches down low in the zone.  Today was about throwing, not so much at an angle, but from an arm slot I felt comfortable with.  I think I can throw better when I am throwing at around three-quarters instead of over the top."

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Issei Morita spent about an hour taking fielding practice at Ginoza Dome after Wednesday's game -- he committed a fielding error in the game.

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Tomoaki Kanemoto did not play in Wednesday's practice game due to poor field conditions (it rained the night before).

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Yasutomo Kubo continued to focus on training exercises due to tightness in his right shoulder.  Regarding when he might start throwing again, Kubo replied, "I will begin throwing when I feel I can.  I will not force it."

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The rehab group, which includes Shinjiro Hiyama and Shibata, will be returning to Naruohama after practices today.

4th round draft pick Kazuo Ito will also be heading to Naruohama after being diagnosed with periarthritis in his right shoulder.  Ito started feeling discomfort in his shoulder while throwing the ball on Wednesday.

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Some hitting results, through Wednesday:

• Morita is 6-for-17 over five games.
• Yamato is 9-for-19 with six RBI over five games.  He also has one double, one triple, and one home run.

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1st round draft pick Hayata Ito swung the bat over 500 times on Tuesday (Sponichi notes 461 times).  Ito was cleared to begin swinging the bat on Tuesday after he had a ganglion cyst removed from his right wrist on February 14.

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Matt Murton is hoping to get around sixty plate appearances before the start of the regular season.

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Craig Brazell took some extra fielding practice at first on Tuesday -- working with INF/base-running coach Teruyoshi Kuji, Brazell spent about fifteen minutes fielding forty-seven baseballs and throwing them to either second or home.

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Kenji Jojima worked on diving after balls (sixty-three in all) hit to his left and right and down the first base line during extra fielding practice on Tuesday.  The session lasted about twenty minutes.

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Takashi Toritani also took extra fielding practices on Tuesday and worked on fielding grounders at second and short as quickly as possible while throwing the ball.

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Tomoaki Kanemoto took some situational fielding practice on Tuesday for the third time since the start of spring camp.

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Yamato spent some time out in center during situational fielding practice on Tuesday.  He will be used primarily as an infielder, but Yutaka Wada likes flexibility -- the more positions a player can play, the more useful he is.

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Wada told reporters on Tuesday that there were five to six candidates for the last two spots in the six-man rotation.  Atsushi Nomura, Minoru Iwata, and Randy Messenger will likely take the first three spots.  The Tigers are also apparently close to deciding on their fourth starter, perhaps Jason Standridge.  That leaves the last two spots.  Candidates could include Yuya Ando, Hiroyuki Kobayashi, Naoto Tsuru, Tatsuya Kojima, and Takumi Akiyama.

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Daiki Enokida will be appearing in a promotional video for Fukuoka University (Alma mater).

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Former Hanshin manager Akinobu Mayumi visited Ginoza camp on Tuesday.  Tadahiro Nomura (judo) also visited Ginoza camp on Tuesday.

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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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Kenichi Tagami, Haruki Kurose, Ryota Arai, Issei Morita, and Masahiro Nakatani all worked out at Ginoza Stadium on their day off today.

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Batting coach Atsushi Kataoka wants every player to work towards being fully ready for the last two exhibition games in February (25 vs Yakult and 26 vs Chunichi).  That also means the younger players do not have that much more time to prove that they either deserve more looks or that they belong on the active roster.

The Tigers also held an emergency meeting after Sunday's game to remind the younger players they are running out of time.

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Matt Murton announced today that his intro music will be Phillips, Craig and Dean's Save the Day.

Murton is scheduled to play in his first game on February 23 (vs Rakuten, two or so at bats).

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Randy Messenger and Jason Standridge are scheduled to pitch in an intra-squad game on February 23.  Both pitchers tossed bullpen session on Sunday and spent some time signing autographs after practices.

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On Sunday: Kenji Jojima started a game at first for the first time since 9/7/2005 -- he handled two chances without any problem (foul out to first in the 2nd inning and a ground out to first in the 3rd inning).  Tomoaki Kanemoto played in a February game for the first time since 2002.

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1st round draft pick Hayata Ito's parents were on hand to watch Sunday's game against the Yomiuri Giants.

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Former Hanshin manager Akinobu Mayumi visited Okinawa Cellular Stadium Naha on Sunday and met with team officials, including new manager Yutaka Wada.