The Hanshin Tigers and Nippon Ham Fighters have joined forces to create special limited Shintaro Fujinami and Shohei Otani merchandise that will only be available at Koshien Stadium (May 25-26), Sapporo Dome June (12-13), and individual official team stores (May 25 until supplies for online stores run out).  Each item will feature both players prominently -- Fujinami pitching and Otani hitting.

• T-Shirt - 2,940 yen
• Key Chain - 500 yen
• Stickers - 350 yen
• Clear File - 350 yen
• Face Towel - 1,050 yen

Fans that spend 3,000 yen or more on the above merchandise through either team's official online store will also have a chance to win one of five Fujinami/Otani autographed t-shirts.

Source: official announcement (Nippon Ham), online store (Nippon Ham), official announcement (Hanshin), online store (Hanshin)

1st round draft pick Shohei Otani started a Ni-gun game against Seibu at Kamagaya today.

Final line: 5 IP, 104 NP, 7 H, 2 BB, 4 SO, 5 R, 2 ER.

Hideki Kuriyama spoke to reporters after the game and said Otani's next start will take place at Ichi-gun, one week later (likely on the 23rd against Yakult at Sapporo Dome).

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1st inning

Kimura, Fumikazu - Fouled off first pitch (146km/h fastball).  Second pitch was a fastball out of the strike zone.  Third pitch was hit over the left-center field wall for a home run.

Abreu, Abner - Hit a single to center on an 1-0 fastball.

Spilborghs, Ryan - First pitch was a curve and Abreu stole second and advance to third on a throwing E2.  Struck out swinging on a 2-2 slider.

Uemoto, Tatsuyuki - Grounded out to short on a 1-2, 125km/h change, runner on third scored.

Takayama, Hisashi - Flied out to right on a 3-2, 146km/h fastball.

Fastball topped out at 146km/h.

2nd inning

Ishikawa, Mitsugu - Grounded out to third on a 0-1, 144km/h fastball.

Takeno, Tatsuya - Hit a single to center on a 1-0, 144km/h fastball.

Misawa, Masaru - Grounded out to first on a 2-0 fastball, runner to second.

Hayashizaki, Ryo - Grounded out to second on a 3-2, 143km/h fastball.

Threw thirty-four pitches through the first two innings.

3rd inning

Kimura, Fumikazu - Struck out swinging on a 2-2, 128km/h slider.

Abreu, Abner - Struck out swinging on a 1-2, 130km/h cutter.

Spilborghs, Ryan - Grounded out to short on a 2-2, 127km/h slider.

4th inning

Uemoto, Tatsuyuki - Grounded out to first on a 2-2, 125km/h change.

Takayama, Hisashi - Struck out looking on a 2-2, 127km/h slider.

Ishikawa, Mitsugu - Hit a single to left on a 0-1, 144km/h fastball.

Takeno, Tatsuya - Passed ball on first pitch, runner to second.  Walked on a 3-1 fastball that missed high, runners on first and second.

Misawa, Masaru - Grounded out to short on a 3-2, 128km/h slider.

Fastball topped out at 151km/h when facing Takayama.

5th inning

Hayashizaki, Ryo - Grounded out to third on a 2-1 fastball, reached safely on a throwing error.

Kimura, Fumikazu - Hit a home run to left on a 0-1, 117km/h slider that went down the middle of the plate.

Abreu, Abner - Flied out to center on first pitch fastball.

Spilborghs, Ryan - Grounded out to third on a 2-2 slider.

Uemoto, Tatsuyuki - Hit a single to center on a 2-2 fastball.

Takayama, Hisashi - Walked on four pitches, runners on first and second.

Ishikawa, Mitsugu - Hit a single to left on a 2-2 slider, runner on second scored, runner on first thrown out after over-running second.

===

Source: Nikkan Sports 5/16/2013, Nikkan Sports 5/16/2013

Yuki Saito threw fifty pitches to a standing catcher in the bullpen on Sunday.  He will continue to toss similar sessions about three times a week.  He will be able to pitch to a squatting catcher once he shows a little more consistency.

Source: Nikkan Sports 4/29/2013

Sunday's bullpen was the first at regular distances -- up until then, he was tossing sessions with the catcher in front of home plate.

Source: Sponichi 4/29/2013

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1st round draft pick Shohei Otani is currently scheduled to pitch in a Ni-gun game against Yomiuri on May 7.  He could also make a return to the active roster as a position player on May 4 (vs Seibu at Seibu Dome).

Otani tossed a bullpen session on the 27th and is slated to toss another on the 30th.  He played in his first Ni-gun rehab game on Sunday and went 0-for-4.  He also started taking fielding practice before Sunday's game.

Source: Nikkan Sports 4/29/2013

Otani played in a Ni-gun game against Yokohama today.  He started in right and batted first.  He went 0-for-2: fly out to right in the 1st, strikeout looking in the 4th.  He was removed on defense in the 5th.

Source: Nikkan Sports 4/29/2013

There is a chance Otani could return to the active roster on May 1 (vs Rakuten at Kleenex Stadium).  A lot depends on how things go on Tuesday when he is scheduled to toss a bullpen session and play in a Ni-gun game as DH.

Source: Sponichi 4/29/2013

Otani was only supposed to get two at bats on Sunday, but was allowed to get four because his right ankle was feeling good.

Source: Daily Sports 4/29/2013

Through Tuesday, only two starters have managed to pitch more than six innings this season: Hiroshi Kisanuki went seven innings against Lotte on April 4 and Mitsuo Yoshikawa went seven innings against Rakuten on April 10.

===

1st round draft Shohei Otani (right ankle inversion sprain) felt good while walking around on Tuesday morning and started playing catch later that day -- he threw the ball about eighty times at a distance of about thirty meters.  He made sure not to put too much energy into his throws (about twenty percent).

Source: Sponichi 4/17/2013, Nikkan Sports 4/17/2013

He threw some curves and sliders during his game of catch on Tuesday.  He threw the last ten balls at about 120km/h.

Source: Sanspo 4/17/2013

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Masaru Takeda threw forty-nine pitches in the bullpen at Kamagaya on Tuesday.  He is scheduled to pitch about five innings in relief in a Ni-gun game against the Futures on the 20th.  Bobby Keppel will make his first rehab start in the same game and pitch one inning.

Source: Nikkan Sports 4/17/2013

===

Yuki Saito threw the ball off the bullpen mound about fifty times at around sixty percent on Tuesday -- Ni-gun pitching coach Takeharu Kato stood on home plate to catch the balls.  Saito first started throwing off a mound to a standing catcher on the 9th.  He is also playing catch at distances of about sixty meters.

Source: Sanspo 4/16/2013, Nikkan Sports 4/17/2013

===

Atsunori Inaba will continue to donate money to Hokkaido emergency children's services based on the number of hits he accumulates over the course of the season.  The money he raises this year will go towards equipping the 400 or so Hokkaido ambulances with non-contact thermometers.

Inaba has been donating money to Hokkaido emergency children's services since 2009.  He finished providing emergency response units at seventy locations in Hokkaido with medical equipment designed for children last year.

Source: Nikkan Sports 4/16/2013, Sponichi 4/16/2013

Inaba hit a home run on Tuesday night and has now recorded at least one home run in each season of his nineteen-year career.

1st round draft pick Shohei Otani had his right ankle re-evaluated at a hospital in Tokyo today.  Tests re-confirmed that there was no detectable damage to the bones or ligaments and that it was a minor inversion sprain.  Otani will most likely be out two to three weeks.

"I do not have any problems walking, but side-to-side movement is a bit difficult.  I want this to heal quickly," said Otani.  "Everything was going well up to now, but maybe I did rush things a little.  I will start over.  I am sure they will call me up again if I do my work."

Source: Daily Sports 4/15/2013, Daily Sports 4/15/2013

1st round draft pick Shohei Otani was taken off the active roster today with a minor inversion sprain in his right ankle.

"We are glad [the sprain] was minor.  We will adjust his workout schedule based on his progress," said Hideki Kuriyama to reporters today.  With regards to his next Ni-gun start on either the 20th or 21st, Kuriyama said, "If he was capable of throwing, we would be using him as a position player."

Otani will report to the Ni-gun facilities at Kamagaya.

Source: Sports Hochi 4/14/2013

Sponichi notes that Otani's Ichi-gun debut will likely be delayed due to the recent injury.

Source: Sponichi 4/14/2013

===

Otani News from Saturday morning:

The Fighters will likely refrain from using 1st round draft pick Shohei Otani in Ichi-gun games the day after he pitches.  Otani started a Ni-gun game against Lotte on the 11th and did not play in Friday's Ichi-gun game against Orix.  Instead, he took some fielding and hitting practice.  He was excused from situational fielding practice and joined other pitchers that were not slated to pitch on Friday for additional workouts.  Otani spent about forty minutes riding a stationary bike and did not take his place in the dugout until the 5th inning.

Source: Nikkan Sports 4/13/2013

1st round draft pick Shohei Otani injured his right ankle while playing defense in the 2nd inning of today's game against Orix.  He had the ankle iced after he was removed from the game on defense in the 3rd.  He was taken to a hospital in Kobe for an examination.

Otani twisted his ankle when he lost his footing in the grass while chasing down a fly ball in foul territory.

Source: Daily Sports 4/13/2013, Nikkan Sports 4/13/2013

===

UPDATE @ 8:19pm - Otani was diagnosed with a minor inversion sprain.  The team will decide what to do after they see how he is feeling on Sunday.

Source: Sponichi 4/13/2013

1st round draft pick Shohei Otani started a Ni-gun game against Lotte today at QVC Marines.  He allowed three runs over four innings of work.  This was his first outing since a two-inning relief stint during a Ni-gun game against Seibu on March 28.

Final line: 69 NP, 4.0 IP, 5 H, 3 BB, 2 SO, 3 R, 2 ER.  Topped out at 152km/h.

Attendance: 2,587

===

1st Inning (first eight pitches were all fastballs)

• Shohei Kato: 1-1, 149km/h fastball, infield single to short
• Takuya Takahama: 3-1 (Kato advances to second on bad pick-off throw), 147km/h fastball, walk
• Takashi Ogino: 2-1, 144km/h fastball, grounder to short, out at second, throwing E6 to first, one run scores
• Shoitsu Omatsu: first pitch, 151km/h fastball strike; second pitch, 150km/h fastball, foul; third pitch, 126km/h change, fly out to first
• Tomoya Satozaki: 3-1, 148km/h fastball, walk, runners on first and second
• Takumi Kobe: 1-0, 149km/h fastball, ground out to short

2nd inning

• Naoya Emura: 0-2, 134km/h slider, strikeout swinging
• Kota Sumi: 1-1, 149km/h fastball, single to center
• Shota Omine: 1-1, 145km/h fastball, double to left, runners on second and third
• Kato: first pitch, 147km/h, foul out to third
• Takahama: 3-2, 151 km/h fastball, walk, bases loaded
• Ogino: first pitch, 150km/h fastball, two-run single to center
• Omatsu: 1-0, 150km/h fastball, ground out to third

3rd inning (fifty-six pitches at the end of the inning)

• Satozaki: first pitch, 97km/h slow curve, strike looking; second pitch, 143km/h fastball, fly out to right
• Kobe: 3-2, 140km/h fastball, fly out to left
• Emura: fourth pitch, 152km/h fastball, foul; 1-2, slider, foul out to first.

4th inning

• Sumi: 3-1, 136km/h fastball, fly out to second
• Shota: 1-2, fourth pitch, 127km/h slider, double to left
• Kato: first pitch, fastball, fly out to left.
• Takahama: mixture of slow-curves and changes; 148km/h fastball, strikeout swinging

Source: Nikkan Sports 4/11/2013, Nikkan Sports 4/11/2013, Sports Hochi 4/11/2013, Sponichi 4/11/2013, Daily Sports 4/11/2013

Sho Nakata took forty swings during batting practice on Thursday and hit ten over the fence.

Source: Sanspo 3/29/2013

===

1st round draft pick Shohei Otani will most likely be allowed to throw fifty to sixty pitches as a starting pitcher during his next Ni-gun outing.

Source: Sanspo 3/29/2013, Sponichi 3/29/2013

Otani threw thirty-three pitches in his relief Ni-gun outing on Thursday.  He topped out at 156km/h on Seibu Lion radar guns three times.

Otani, Hiroshi Kisanuki, and Masaru Nakamura hopped on a taxi at Kamagaya at around 6:00pm on Thursday and arrived at the team hotel in Tachikawa after 8:00pm.  Cab fare: 24,500 yen.

Source: Sanspo 3/29/2013

The stadium radar gun topped out at 152km/h for Otani on Thursday.

Source: Nikkan Sports 3/29/2013

Twenty-four of the thirty-three pitches Otani threw were fastballs.  Nineteen were clocked at or over 150km/h.

Source: Daily Sports 3/29/2013

Only two first-year players out of high school in franchise history have made the starting line-up on opening day: Noboru Makino on March 21, 1956 (pitcher batting ninth) and Isao Harimoto on April 10, 1959 (left field batting sixth).  Both players struck out in their one plate appearance -- Makino to Atsushi Aramaki and Hairmoto to Tetsuya Yoneda.

Source: Sponichi 3/29/2013

Otani's next outing as a pitcher could come during a Ni-gun three-game series against Lotte that begins on April 9.

Source: Nikkan Sports 3/29/2013

Yuki Saito is still working on nailing down a delivery that places less strain on his right shoulder.  He has made progress since spring camp, but he is still not quite ready to toss a full-fledged bullpen session.

Source: Nikkan Sports 3/28/2013

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The Fighters held Ichi-gun workouts at Seibu Dome today.  1st round draft pick Shohei Otani was not able to attend because his Ni-gun outing on Wednesday was rained out and shifted to today.  Having him skip the game in order to attend Ichi-gun practices was not an option because it may have meant going two to three weeks in between outings.

Source: Nikkan Sports 3/28/2013

Otani pitched in a Ni-gun game against Seibu at Kamagaya today.  He gave up a run on one hit and two walks over two innings of relief.  He led off each inning with a walk and topped out at 152km/h.

Source: Nikkan Sports 3/28/2013

Otani will probably have at least one "pitcher day" each week while he is on the active roster.

Source: Daily Sports 3/28/2013

Otani might make the starting line-up on opening day, but the last thing Hideki Kuriyama wants to do is push him too hard.

Source: Nikkan Sports 3/28/2013

Otani re-joined the Ichi-gun team after his Ni-gun outing today.

Source: Sanspo 3/28/2013