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According to Nikkan Sports, Sho Nakata offered 7th round draft pick Takumi Oshima the following advice:

1. look for the fastball
2. there is no need to go after off-speed pitches unnecessarily
3. you can make it at the Ichi-gun level if you can hit a fastball

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The Fighters closed out spring camp in Nago today.

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Masaru Takeda will likely start an intra-squad game against the Yakult Swallows on March 4.  According to Nikkan Sports, Takeda and Yuki Saito are the top two candidates for opening day.

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Depending on how 7th round draft pick Takumi Oshima does over the next couple of games (practice game today against Samsung Lions and March 3 exhibition game against the Yakult Swallows), he could find himself back at Ni-gun.

====== UPDATE 2/28 @ 3:35am

The starting rotation will likely include Masaru Takeda, Bobby Keppel, Brian Wolfe, and Yuki Saito.  Past that, things get a little murky and Hideki Kuriyama is disappointed the younger pitchers are not taking better advantage of the opportunity to win a spot in the starting rotation.

The Fighters found out their exhibition game against the Yokohama Bay Stars on Sunday was canceled just before arriving at Ginowan.  It took the team about an hour to get to Ginowan from their hotel in Nago.

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Of the fifteen pitches Masaru Takeda threw during his exhibition game start against the Rakuten Eagles on Saturday, twelve were strikes.

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7th round draft pick Takumi Oshima told reporters he may have tweaked his lower back when stealing second against the Yakult Swallows on Thursday.

7th round draft pick Takumi Oshima may opt to miss his university graduation ceremony (March 26) since he hopes to be in Hokkaido preparing for opening day on March 30.

Oshima did not play in Saturday's exhibition game against the Rakuten Eagles because of some lower back pain.  And while he did take batting practice, he was not available off the bench.

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Terrmel Sledge and Brian Wolfe went fishing on their day off on Friday and returned to the player hotel empty-handed.

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The Fighters currently have forty-one players at Ichi-gun camp.  Hideki Kuriyama is planning to drop three pitchers and three position players to Ni-gun on February 28 and continue to pare the roster down to about thirty players by March 8.

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Bobby Keppel is scheduled to start Sunday's game against the Yokohama Bay Stars.

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The Fighters have set up three meeting rooms on the first floor of their team office in Sapporo.  The three rooms will each have a name: Darvish, Shinjo, and Hillman.

Masao Kida visited Nago Wakaba-en, a care facility for children with mental illnesses, for about an hour today.

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Yuki Saito's next outing will like be during an exhibition game against the Yakult Swallows on March 3.

The Ichi-gun Fighters have the day off tomorrow.

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7th round draft pick Takumi Oshima got some quick catching tips from Atsuya Furuta on Wednesday.  It was a two-three minute conversation.

"I just gave him some pointers on how to catch the ball.  He might have some troubles on defense.  Hopefully he can use what I told him," said Furuta.

With regards to Oshima's offensive potential, Furuta said, "He has what it takes to hit at the pro yakyu level.  I think he has the tools to succeed."

Sanspo is carrying a slightly different, but similar quote: "I think he has the tools to make it at the pro level.  And with hitting, you can make adjustments once you start getting used to things.  Catching breaking pitches and calling a game will take some time.  But he is young so I am sure he will be ok."

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The Fighters will sell two types of special tickets for their opening series against the Seibu Lions: 1,500 tickets that come with a commemorative baseball and 1,000 tickets that come with a commemorative photo book.  The tickets will go on sale to fan club members on February 25 and then to the general public on February 26.

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7th round draft pick Takumi Oshima caught four bullpen sessions on Tuesday (a total 194 pitches), including Yuki Saito (sixty-four pitches) and Masaru Takeda.

The home plate ump standing behind Oshima during parts of the bullpen sessions asked the twenty-two year old to get down lower because he was having a hard time seeing home plate.

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Two catchers caught Yuki Saito's bullpen session on Tuesday: 7th round draft pick Oshima and Shota Ono.

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5th round draft pick Toshiharu Moriuchi will likely pitch an inning in relief in a practice game against the Yakult Swallows on Thursday.

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Atsuya Furuta visited Nago camp today.

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Hideki Kuriyama tried to do some running with Kenshi Sugiya after general practices today but did not last very long and had to stop to catch his breath.

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7th round draft pick Takumi Oshima apparently dropped about three to four kilograms during spring camp so far.

He also told reporters today he was interested in talking to other left-handed hitters on the team about hitting, especially Terrmel Sledge.

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Called up to Ichi-gun camp: Masaru Saito, 5th round draft pick Toshiharu Moriuchi, 7th round draft pick Oshima

Sent down to Ni-gun camp: Masaya Ozaki, Yodai Enoshita, Masaru Nakamura

Via Nikkan Sports

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The Fighters had the day off today.

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The Fighters announced today that they added another practice game to their schedule: February 27 at 1pm vs Samsung Lions at Nago Stadium.

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7th round draft pick Takumi Oshima moved into the Ichi-gun player hotel today and will most likely begin workout at Ichi-gun camp tomorrow.  There is a good chance he will play in Wednesday's practice game against the SK Wyverns.

5th round draft pick Toshiharu Moriuchi and Masaru Saito also moved into the Ichi-gun player hotel on Monday.

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Through Monday, 7th round draft pick Oshima is 6-for-16 over eight practice games.  On Sunday, he also struck out in consecutive at bats for the first time in his career (including softball career).