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Kenichi Nakata joined Ichi-gun camp today.  He is scheduled to pitch in a practice game on Friday.

Nakata missed the Final Stage of the Climax Series last year because of inflammation in his right shoulder.

Source: Sponichi 2/21/2013

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Masahiro Yamamoto returned to workouts today after going to the hospital on Wednesday with gastroenteritis.  His schedule included some catch and light running.  He plans to return to a regular schedule on Friday.

Source: Nikkan Sports 2/21/2013

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Yusuke Matsui also returned to practices today -- he missed workouts on Wednesday because he was sent to the hospital after developing a rash on his neck.

Source: Sponichi 2/21/2013

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Takuya Asao will not rejoin the team in Okinawa for spring camp and will instead head to Nagoya to have his right shoulder examined at a hospital.

Source: Nikkan Sports 2/21/2013, Nikkan Sports 2/21/2013

Daisuke Yamai and Yohei Oshima returned to Okinawa today.  They both got the day off today.

Source: Sponichi 2/21/2013

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Nikkan Sports has posted the situational batting practice session from Wednesday (runner on second, one out, 1-1 count):

Kazuki Yoshimi (thirteen batters, thirty-two pitches, zero hits, three strikeouts, one HBP)

Masahiko Morino = F6.  Ryoji Nakata = F9.  Naomichi Donoue = Ks.  Kei Nomoto = G5.  3rd round draft pick Takeru Furumoto = G3. Tetsuya Tani = G5.  Ryosuke Hirata = F8.  Takeshi Yamasaki = Kl.  Victor Diaz = HBP.  Victor Diaz = E8.  Shuhei Takahashi = G3.  Motonobu Tanishige = G6.  Ryoji Nakata = Ks.

Hitoki Iwase (thirteen batters,  twenty-eight pitches, four hits, three strikeouts, zero walks)

Daisuke Tanaka = G5.  Kazuhiro Wada = L6.  3rd round draft pick Takeru Furumoto = 2B to left.  Hector Luna = G5.  Victor Diaz = Ks.  Matt Clark = Ks.  Takeshi Yamasaki = G6.  Nobumasa Fukuda = G6.  Matt Clark = 1B to right.  Kyohei Iwasaki = infield 1B.  Hector Luna = 1B to right.  Atsushi Fujii = Kl.  Kazuhiro Wada = G5.

Brad Bergesen (fourteen batters, forty-two pitches, zero hits, one strikeout, three walks)

Akihiro Maeda = Ks.  Nobumasa Fukuda = BB.  Masahiko Morino = BB.  Naomichi Donoue = G4.  Ryosuke Hirata = G4.  Kyohei Iwasaki = G5.  Shuhei Takahashi = G4.  Ryoji Nakata = G6.  Atsushi Fujii = F8.  Masato Matsui = F8.  Naomichi Donoue = G4.  Motonobu Tanishige = G4.  Masato Matsui = BB.  Kei Nomoto = G1.

Daniel Cabrera (nine batters, thirty-two pitches, one hit, three strikeouts, zero walks)

Kei NOmoto = G3.  3rd round draft pick Takeru Furumoto = G5.  Tetsuya Tani = E3.  Motonobu Tanishige = F4.  Takeshi Yamasaki = G4.  Kazuhiro Wada = Kl.  Masahiko Morino = Ks.  Nobumasa Fukuda = K2.  Ryosuke Hirata = 2B to left.

Source: Nikkan Sports 2/21/2013

Kenichi Nakata was taken off the active roster today with inflammation in his right shoulder.

According to the team trainer, Nakata felt some discomfort after his start on Saturday.  He got an MRI today and was diagnosed with inflammation in his shoulder.

The team will see how Nakata does over the next week or so before deciding what to do next.  As it is, he will not be able to return to the active roster until October 25.

Source: Sponichi 10/15/2012

Nikkan Sports notes that the Dragons have dropped hints to reporters that Kazuki Yoshimi may be their opening day starter.

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Takeshi Yamasaki is looking forward to the chance of facing his former teammate Masahiro Tanaka when the Dragons play three exhibition games against the Rakuten Eagles at Nagoya Dome between March 23 and 25 at Nagoya Dome.

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Kenshin Kawakami and Kenichi Nakata will likely get starts during the second series of the season: vs Yokohama at Yokohama, April 3-5.

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While Kenichi Nakata topped out at 149km/h during his outing against the Hiroshima Carp on Sunday, his velocity dropped about 10km/h the moment runners got on base.

"I could not get my timing down from the set position.  And I was throwing from the side," said Nakata.

Nakata spent some time in the bullpen, after his outing, making adjustments to his mechanics.

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1st round draft pick Shuhei Takahashi attended his high school graduation on Saturday.

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Between throwing batting practice and tossing a bullpen session, Yudai Ono threw about 200 pitches today.  Pitching coach Shinji Imanaka apparently had to step in to stop Ono.

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Ni-gun pitching coach Imanaka visited Ichi-gun camp on Friday and worked with Yudai Ono, Toshiya Okada, and Ryuya Ogawa.

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1st round draft pick Shuhei Takahashi took fielding practice at short on Friday.  While the team does see him as a third baseman, they also feel he may have a future as a shortstop.  He might also get a look at second.

Morimichi Takagi also spent over twenty minutes hitting grounders to Takahashi.

The Dragons working out in Guam, including Takuya Asao, Kenichi Nakata, and Junki Ito, returned to Japan today after spending about ten days working out in Guam.

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Maximo Nelson arrived at Chubu International Airport today from the Dominican Republic.  Nelson started started running and playing catch in early January.  He is scheduled to participate in the player's joint training session in Okinawa that begins on January 26.

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Takeshi Yamasaki participated in a talk session in Aichi today and promised to do his best to take down the Yomiuri Giants.

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The 2011 draft class took vision assessment tests at Nagoya Stadium on Saturday

1st round draft pick Shuhei Takahashi recorded solid numbers across the board, but of the ten tests he took, he did particularly well on depth perception and instantaneous field of view tests.

6th round draft pick Sang-Hoon Son did extremely well with the movement tracking test -- hypothetically, he should be able to hit 160km/h fastballs.

1st round draft pick Shuhei Takahashi celebrated his 18th birthday today.  The media presented Takahashi with a birthday cake.

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Masahiro Araki visited children at Nagoya City University Hospital on Wednesday.  Tetsuya Tani, Kyohei Iwasaki, Kohei Oda, Ryuya Ogawa, and Keisuke Seki also took part in the visit.

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Kenichi Nakata worked out in Guam on Tuesday.  His workouts included a five kilometer run, fielding practice, and weight training.

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The Dragons are planning to give fans a chance to high-five players when gates at Nagoya Stadium open at 10am on 1/20 and 1/24.

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Kazuki Yoshimi had members of the 2011 draft class, minus 4th round draft pick Takehiko Tsuji (graduation test), take the mic and address the crowd (about 500 strong) at Nagoya Stadium on Tuesday.

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Wei-Ying Chen started a two-day workout with Kazuki Yoshimi and Yudai Ono in Fukuoka today.  During his press conference to the media on Tuesday, Chen told reporters he planned to teach Ono everything he learned over the last eight years.

This post will be updated throughout the day.

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Owner Bungo Shirai visited Chatan Stadium today to watch the Dragons work out.  He also met and spoke with Hiromitsu Ochiai for about 3 hours.

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Kenichi Nakata threw 101 pitches in the bullpen today.  Nakata is hoping to throw anywhere from 1,600 pitches to 1,800 pitches before the end of spring camp.

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Hitoki Iwase threw 60 pitches in the bullpen today.

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The four batters Maximo Nelson struck out during situational BP yesterday: Tony Blanco on a slider; Masahiko Morino on a fork; Joel Guzman on a slider; and Felix Carrasco on a fork.

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The Donoue brother both took part in situational BP yesterday and combined for 5 hits -- Takehiro 3 hits and Naomichi 2 hits.

This post will be updated throughout the day.

=== 10:34pm

Kenichi Nakata tossed BP today to three batters: Masahiro Araki, Tatsuro Iwasaki, and Atsushi Fujii.  He threw a total 53 pitches and gave up 3 could-be hits.

=== 3:44pm

Hirokazu Ibata took early fielding practice today.  Ibata was at Chatan Stadium about an hour before the start of general practice and took some grounders with Tatsuro Iwasaki.  The day before, Ibata stayed back after general practice for extra indoor BP.

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Of the 21 batters that took BP yesterday, Joel Guzman was the only one that managed to hit the ball out of Chatan Stadium (out to left-center and over the 5 meter high netting).  But Guzman did struggle to connect for could-be hits with only 5.

Said Guzman, "I was 100% ready [for BP].  But Japanese pitchers throw a lot of breaking pitches and they've got good control.  I also need to get used to the strike zone."

Giants' scout on Guzman - "I can see that he's got a lot of power.  They've also go Blanco, so extreme caution will be necessary.  Seems [Hiromitsu] Ochiai has a knack for bringing up players with power."

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Hiromitsu Ochiai told reporters yesterday that players should think that rest = quitting.

Said Ochiai, "It's everyone for themselves.  Players that want to practice more, should.  Players that want to rest, can.  But, if they rest, we'll make it so that they can't.  Players should think rest = taking the uniform off."

Masahiko Morino took about 400 grounders after general practice (about an hour and 20 minutes worth).

Kazuhiro Wada ran three 400 meter races after general practice and was planning on taking extra BP afterward, but couldn't because he wasn't feeling well from all the running.