I’m really excited to be heading to Okinawa for the first week of spring training! Here is a list of the players who will be joining me down south. (Those not here will take part in the farm team camp in Aki, Kochi.)
Pitchers
Daiki Enokida, Atsushi Nohmi, Yuta Iwasada, Kyuji Fujikawa, Shintaro Fujinami, Minoru Iwata, Hiroaki Saiuchi, Takumi Akiyama, Shinobu Fukuhara, Kazuya Takamiya, Marcos Mateo, Akifumi Takahashi, Naoto Tsuru, Randy Messenger, Ryoma Matsuda, Kazuhito Futagami, Suguru Iwazaki, Hiroya Shimamoto, Rafael Dolis
Catchers
Seishiro Sakamoto, Shinji Komiyama, Ryutaro Umeno, Taichi Okazaki
Infielders
Takashi Toritani, Fumiya Hojoh, Hiroki Uemoto, Mauro Gomez, Tsuyoshi Nishioka, Ryota Arai, Matt Hague, Ryota Imanari, Naomasa Yohkawa, Fumiya Araki
Outfielders
Yamato, Kosuke Fukudome, Shintaro Yokota, Taiga Egoshi, Hayata Itoh, Masahiro Nakatani, Ryosuke Ogata
The team also announced the basic schedule for camp yesterday:
First Squad – Ginoza Baseball Park (February 1-29)
Days Off: February 5 (Fri), 10 (Wed), 15 (Mon), 19 (Fri), 24 (Wed)
*Subject to change depending on weather conditions
Exhibition Games (all start at 1 pm in Ginoza unless otherwise indicated):
Tu 2/16 (vs. Rakuten Eagles); Sat 2/20 (vs. Rakuten Eagles); Sun 2/21 (@ Yakult Swallows – Urasoe); Th 2/25 (vs. Nippon Ham Fighters); Sat 2/27 (vs. Samsung Lions)
Word is, Kanemoto wants to have intra-squad games on all weekends and the national holiday (2/11) except when they have scheduled exhibition games. The first will be either on February 6th or 7th.
Second Squad – Aki City Ballpark, Kochi (February 1-24)
OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA
Days Off: February 5 (Fri), 10 (Wed), 15 (Mon), 19 (Fri)
*Subject to change depending on weather conditions
Exhibition Games (all start at 12:30 pm in Aki):
Th 2/11 (vs. Hanwha Eagles); Sat 2/13 (vs. Shikoku Bank); Sun 2/14 (vs. JR Shikoku); Sat 2/20 (vs. Seibu Saitama Lions); Sun 2/21 (vs. Hanwha Eagles)
I’m surprised first-round draft pick Shun Takayama is starting out in Aki, but perhaps his offseason injury is the reason. Kanemoto has said there will be mid-training camp moves from Aki to Okinawa and vice-versa, so perhaps he will head south at a later date. Be ready for lots of reporting from the main camp early next month!