Junji Ogawa thinks Kyohei Muranaka and Kazuhiro Hatakeyama will be key players in 2013.

Source: Nikkan Sports 3/25/2013

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Shinya Miyamoto will most likely be the opening day starting third baseman.

Source: Sanspo 3/25/2013

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Orlando Roman is scheduled to pitch in a Ni-gun game against Lotte on Tuesday.

Source: Sanspo 3/25/2013

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The Swallows will likely err on the side of caution with Wladimir Balentien because they do not want him to aggravate his left leg injury.

Source: Daily Sports 3/25/2013

Ogawa told reporters today that he is preparing for the season under the assumption that both Balentien and Shingo Kawabata (left ankle) will not be ready for opening day.

Source: Sports Hochi 3/25/2013

Wladimir Balentien was examined at a hospital in Tokyo today and diagnosed with a strain in his left adductor muscle.  There is no timetable on his return.  He could miss the start of the season.  Balentien will begin his rehab at the Ni-gun facilities.  The team will wait to make a final decision on him until they have had a chance to see him work out.

Source: Sponichi 3/23/2013

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Wladimir Balentien felt discomfort in his right shoulder today and played it safe by making adjustments to his workout schedule.

Source: Sanspo 2/13/2013

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Akinori Iwamura took about fifty minutes of extra fielding practice at third base after general workouts today.

Source: Nikkan Sports 2/13/2013, Sports Hochi 2/13/2013

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Ryosuke Morioka returned to workouts today after recovering from the flu.  He worked out separately from the main group since it was his first day back.

Source: Nikkan Sports 2/13/2013

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Kenichi Matsuoka could get a look as a starter.

Source: Sanspo 2/13/2013

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Kentaro Kyuko spent about an hour and a half throwing a baseball into net during his day-off on Tuesday.

Kyuko was supposed to pitch in an intra-squad game on the 11th, but could not because the game was called early.  He is now scheduled to pitch in a practice game against KIA (KBO) on the 16th.

Source: Sanspo 2/13/2013

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1st round draft pick Taichi Ishiyama will likely make his "debut" during a practice game against Yomiuri on the 21st.  He is also slated to toss batting practice on Thursday.

Source: Sanspo 2/13/2013

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Wladimir Balentien played catch with a first baseman's mitt today.

Source: Nikkan Sports 2/8/2013

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Thursday was the first time pitchers started tossing batting practice.  Junji Ogawa turned off the background music during batting practice because he wanted to make sure the pitchers and hitters could focus on their mechanics.  And instead of using two cages on the field, they used just one -- this allowed pitchers to focus on throwing without having to worry about errant baseballs.

Source: Nikkan Sports 2/8/2013

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Atsuya Furuta ended up throwing about 400 batting practice pitches to Hiroyasu Tanaka, Tsuyoshi Ueda, and Yuhei during workouts on Thursday.

Source: Sponichi 2/8/2013

According to a number of reports, the Yakult Swallows have signed Wladimir Balentien (28), Lastings Milledge (27), and Tony Barnette (29) to multi-year deals.

Balentien: four-year deal - US$950,000 in 2013 and US$7,500,000 over the final three years (2014-2016)

Milledge: three-year deal - US$1,100,000 in 2013 and US$3,300,000 over the final two years (2014-2015) with an option for 2016

Barnette: two-year deal worth US$3,200,000

Source: Daily Sports 12/15/2012, Sports Hochi 12/15/2012, Jiji Press 12/15/2012

UPDATE 12/16 @ 11:42am - A few more details on the contracts...  The Swallows exercised 2013 options on both Balentien and Milledge, so their deals are actually three years and two years, respectively.  Nikkan Sports mentions that each of the deals include performance bonuses.

Source: Sponichi 12/15/2012, Nikkan Sports 12/15/2012

According to Nikkan Sports, there is a good chance the Yakult Swallows will offer Akinori Iwamura (33) a contract after the twelve-team tryouts.

Yakult is also planning to bring Wladimir Balentien, Lastings Milledge, Tony Barnette, and Orlando Roman back next season.  Things do not look quite as good for Chang-Yong Lim (coming back from right elbow surgery in July).

Source: Nikkan Sports 10/16/2012

Morimichi Takagi told reporters that he is planning to select Kazuhiro Hatakeyama (Yakult) for the All-Star roster because of his ties to the Tohoku region (he is from Iwate).  He also mentioned other names like Shuichi Murata (Yomiuri), Wladimir Balentien (Yakult), and Daisuke Miura (Yokohama).

This coming just a couple days after Takagi said he was thinking about players like Tomoaki Kanemoto (Hanshin), Masahiro Yamamoto (Chunichi), Shota Dobayashi (Hiroshima), and Sho Aranami (Yokohama).  His change in thinking may be a result of wanting to select players with closer connections to the Tohoku region.

FWIW: Dobayashi received 248,231 fan votes, which was eighth most in the CL.

Source: Sponichi 6/28/2012, Sponichi 6/30/2012

Position in the Starting Line-up

Home / Road Splits

Lefty / Righty Splits

Runners on Base

Direction Balls Hit

Since Masanori Ishikawa's start was rained out today, he will get to pitch in a Ni-gun game against Nippon Ham at Toda on Saturday.  Kyohei Muranaka will start Saturday's exhibition game against the Seibu Lions.

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Shohei Tateyama will likely get some work out of the bullpen on Saturday.

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Shingo Kawabata joined the Ichi-gun team today and is scheduled to play in Saturday's game against the Seibu Lions (Jingu).

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Junji Ogawa told reporters today that Chang-Yong Lim will be sent down to Ni-gun to continue his preparations for the season -- they do not want to rush him.  This also leaves open the possibility that Lim starts the season at Ni-gun, which could be good news for players like Wladimir Balentien and Orlando Roman, since the two were competing for the last remaining foreign player roster spot.

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The first three pitchers in the starting rotation will likely be: Ishikawa, Muranaka, and Katsuki Akagawa.

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The Swallows announced the start of the Shinya Miyamoto 2,000 Hit Support Project today.

And when Miyamoto records his 2,000th hit, the Swallows plan to celebrate by giving fans with the names "Miyamoto" or "Shinya" and fans in their forties or with the number six in their age a discount on tickets to the 2,000th Hit Commemorative Game -- 3,000 yen reserved seat A tickets on the first base side will be priced at 2,000 yen.

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Lastings Milledge and his girlfriend made the headlines today.

Shingo Kawabata is scheduled to rejoin the Ichi-gun team on Friday.

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The Swallows attended a pep rally at Meiji Kinenkan on Thursday.  About 500 people attended.

The new members of the cheer-leading group, Passion, in addition to their new uniforms, were also introduced and unveiled.

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Yakult held a general stockholder's meeting on Thursday and approved a number of personnel changes, which included both Tadashi Suzuki (advisor) and Katsutoshi Oki (executive director) stepping down from their posts.  Junsei Atarashi will take on Oki's position as chief of team operations.

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Orlando Roman has not allowed a run over his last sixteen innings of work.  Wladimir Balentien's bat is also beginning to show signs of life: in his last five games he is 8-for-18 with two homers and seven RBI.

And with both players doing well, Nikkan Sports mentions that the Swallows might actually opt to demote Chang-Yong Lim.  In either case, the three players have three more exhibition games to prove they belong on the active roster.