Camp is over! The team packed up late this morning and are on their way back to mainland. Exhibition season up here starts on March 3 (in Fukuoka, where they’re selling “open seating” all-you-can-eat tickets for ¥2500) and runs through the 25th. Looking forward to see how the field and mound start to take shape! Who’s gonna start? Who’s gonna learn more about pine trees? Who’s going to major in agriculture? Anyways, on to the final bits of news from spring training…
Randy Messenger has experienced some discomfort in his right shoulder and did not throw at all for three days. Today, on the last day of camp, he played some short distance catch. He does not seem concerned, nor does Kanemoto. Randy even joked that he would convert to southpaw status sometime in midseason if he has to. Keep your eyes on this as it develops. We will, that’s for sure.
In other injury news, catcher Shinya Azuhata (who?) has injured his left hamstring and will rest for a few days and see the extent of the injury.
Wilin Rosario continues to woo coaches and fans. He played the field during game action for the first time this past week, and looked good. He also hit an estimated 150 meter (492 foot) home run off the scoreboard in batting practice.
There has been talk that Takashi Toritani will be seriously considered as the leadoff hitter this season. The newly converted second baseman has a keen eye and has been near the top of the league leader’s board in on base percentage for much of the past decade.
Hiroki Uemoto has been given the green light to join the top squad for practices and exhibition games from March. The (backup?) second baseman has been working back from offseason ankle surgery, and impressed farm manager Akihiro Yano, especially in the latter half of February.
@ Swallows (Urasoe City Baseball Field, Saturday 2/24)
Top 2: Shun Takayama got on board with an infield hit to third, advanced to second on an error, and stole third base. Naomasa Yohkawa followed that with a walk, and Masahiro Nakatani helped open the scoring with an RBI single to left. Hanshin 1, Yakult 0
Top 4: Yohkawa walked, advanced to third on a Ryutaro Umeno single, and scored on a Shunsuke RBI single to right. Hanshin 2, Yakult 0
Bottom 4: Suguru Iwazaki looked great in his first start since being relegated to bullpen duty in 2017. He went 4 innings and gave up just 2 hits. Unfortunately, one of those was a fourth inning solo bomb by Balentien. Hanshin 2, Yakult 1
Bottom 6: Takumi Akiyama looked fairly good, but an error by Fumiya Hojoh started this inning off wrong, and eventually led to the lead escaping us. With a runner on second and the score tied with two outs, Balentien struck again. Akiyama was charged with none of the runs, but the result is the same: Hanshin 2, Yakult 4
Hiroya Shimamoto pitched the final inning, striking out two and allowing nary a base runner. He looks to crack the top squad on Opening Day as the token lefty (especially if Iwazaki moves back to the rotation this year).
Final Score: Yakult 4, Hanshin 2
@ Dragons (Chatan Park Baseball Stadium, Sunday 2/25)
Rained out after less than an inning. Takashi Toritani and Kosuke Fukudome saw their first action of the spring but both produced outs in their lone at bats. Shintaro Fujinami got a grounder and strikeout before the game was called due to continuing rain.
vs. JR Shikoku (Aki, Kochi, Sunday 2/25)
Starter Koki Moriya gave up a run on two doubles in the top of the first.
The little Tigers got the run back on a Ryosuke Ogata RBI triple in the bottom of the second.
Moriya pitched two perfect innings and called it a day.
We took our first lead of the game in the bottom of the fourth, thanks to a couple of singles, a walk, and a Noriharu Yamazaki sacrifice fly.
Hiroaki Saiuchi threw a perfect inning, and Koyo Aoyagi did the same in the fifth, but then surrendered a couple of runs in the sixth. He only plunked one guy.
Yutaro Itayama gave us the lead back with a two-run homer in the bottom of the sixth, though.
And that was all the scoring in this one. Aoyagi threw a clean seventh, and then Shungo Fukunaga threw two shutout innings to preserve the win.
Final Score: Hanshin 4, JR Shikoku 3
Intrasquad Game (Okinawa, Tuesday 2/27)
The starters were sophomores Taiki Ono (2 IP, 0 H) and Hiroto Saiki (2 IP, 1 H). Both showed that they want a spot in the rotation this season.
Taiga Egoshi hit an RBI triple off Minoru Iwata in the third – and guess what, he was hitting from the right side! Guess who really needs to cut out this switch hitter nonsense? Toritani brought Egoshi home later in the inning on a ground out to second.
The best news of the game came in the form of a Ryutaro Umeno home run, which he hit off reliever Akifumi Takahashi. If he can hit the ball a little more, he will likely take the reins as main catcher this season. If you look closely, you might see Takahashi smiling as he watches the ball leave the park. Seems he’s glad to know his catcher can hit the long ball every now and then, too.
🐯何で…
これが公式戦で出ない！？🤔梅野が豪快な1発をスタンドに
放り込みました。👌#阪神タイガース #梅野隆太郎 pic.twitter.com/Edt8zftSgW— ⚾埼とら⚾今年も怪我無く！ (@yakyuragu) February 27, 2018
There were a few more RBIs (newcomer Kairi Shimada among them) and a couple of big fly sacrifice flies (Rosario and Nakatani), but overall the game was without big moments. I suppose if there was one other, it would be Rosario earning a walk off Kentaro Kuwahara and then stealing second base during the next at bat. The score ended up 4-4, and as usual, the intrasquad game went just six innings.
So we find ourselves at the end of camp, and the only thing left to impart to you is the naming of the camp MVPs.
Top Squad: WILIN ROSARIO
Honorable mentions to Taiki Ono and Yusuke Ohyama
Farm Squad: Shungo Fukunaga, Kazuo Itoh, Ryosuke Ogata, Hayata Itoh, Fumiya Araki
Special “Energy” MVP to Shintaro Yokota
Next H-TEN report will be about exhibition play! We’re getting closer to the regular season, Tigers fans! Hang in there, and happy March to you all!