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| Lotte Pitcher
Tomohiro Kuroki told the press Monday that his goals this year are staying
healthy and doing well enough so that he can pitch in the second game of
this year's all star series, which will be held in his hometown of Miyazaki.
"If I'm healthy, I think I can put up some all star numbers," he asserted.
Closer Masahide Kobayashi, at a personal appearance Monday, said that nobody has contacted him about replacing Akinori Otsuka if the Rangers reliever jumps the Japanese WBC ship. He then elaborated that he really hasn't even started throwing yet and would be unlikely to be effective for his nation's contingent anyway at this stage of the year. Nippon Ham All
of the Fighters' rookies fell in today at the team dormitory. Third round
draft choice Tatsuo Kinoshita revealed that he will be working on adding
a shuuto to his repetoire this spring after second year hurler Yu
Darvish advised him to do so in order to jam hitters. Kinoshita went to
a medical treatment center that is also used by Chunichi ace Kenshin Kawakami
toward the end of the year and received a lecture on how to workout properly
and avoid injuries. The course apparently
Orix Rookie infielder Ryosuke Shibata reported to the team's dormitory Monday along with all the other members of this season's rookie class and got some advice from Ichiro on how to arrange his room. Shibata is a product of Ichiro's alma mater, Aikodai Meiden High School, and the two met on the second at Ichiro's parents' home. Ichiro is said to have told him that he should bring as little as he can to his room and that he needs to make as much space as possible for practicing his swing in off practice hours. The player's rooms are only ten mats (each mat is about 6'x6'), so there isn't a whole lot of elbow room. |