Spring Training begins on February 1st in Ginoza, Okinawa and finishes on the 25th. The Tigers have announced the 38 players who will take part in this camp.
Other players, either of their own volition or club orders, will train with the minor league affiliate team in Aki City, Kochi. Here are the 38:
Pitchers: Daiki Enokida, Yuta Iwasada, Atsushi Nohmi, Shintaro Fujinami, Kazuya Tsutsui, Minoru Iwata, Seung-hwan Oh, Hiroaki Saiuchi, Takumi Akiyama, Shinobu Fukuhara, Tsuyoshi Ishizaki, Shoya Yamamoto, Kazuyuki Kaneda, Randy Messenger, Akira Iwamoto, Kentaro Kuwahara, Kazuhito Futagami, Hiroya Shimamoto.
Catchers: Shinji Komiyama, Kazunari Tsuruoka, Ryutaro Umeno, Takashi Shimizu.
Infielders: Takashi Toritani, Fumiya Hojoh, Hiroki Uemoto, Mauro Gomez, Tsuyoshi Nishioka, Naoto Nishida, Ryota Imanari, Naomasa Yohkawa, Fumiya Araki.
Outfielders: Kohei Shibata, Yamato Maeda, Kosuke Fukudome, Matt Murton, Taiga Egoshi, Hayata Itoh, Masahiro Nakatani.
The exhibition game schedule is as follows:
Wednesday, February 11, 13:00 vs. Nippon Ham Fighters in Nago City
Friday, February 13, 13:00 vs. Samsung Lions (Oh’s team in Korea???) in Ginoza
Tuesday, February 17, 13:00 vs. Rakuten Golden Eagles in Ginoza
Thursday, February 19, 13:00 vs. Yakult Swallows in Urasoe
Tuesday, February 24, 13:00 vs. DeNA Baystars in Ginoza
The players get days off on the 5th, 10th, 16th and 20th.
I sure wish I could be there to see the players and coaches as they get ready for the upcoming season! Train hard, men! We want a championship in 2015! GO TIGERS!