For the fourth consecutive year the Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters are doing the first part of their spring camp in Arizona. Like last year it will be at Salt River Fields At Talking Stick in Scottsdale, the spring training home of the Rockies and Diamondbacks. The team will be there from February 1st to the 12th. Their schedule is available on the team's website (in Japanese of course) but the important days to note are off days on the 3rd and 8th, an inter-squad game (Red vs White) on the 9th and a game against the KBO's NC Dinos on the 11th. Both games will be at 12:30.
The Fighters announced who all is coming today. I've translated the list (and hopefully gotten all the names correct). There's a couple notable newcomers to the team on the roster - former Orix Buffaloes ace Chihiro Kaneko and former CPBL star Po-Jung Wang.
The Fighters announced who all is coming today. I've translated the list (and hopefully gotten all the names correct). There's a couple notable newcomers to the team on the roster - former Orix Buffaloes ace Chihiro Kaneko and former CPBL star Po-Jung Wang.
| Number | Player/Coach | Category |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Saitoh, Yuki | Pitcher |
| 2 | Sugiya, Kenshi | Infielder |
| 5 | Ota, Taishi | Outfielder |
| 6 | Nakata, Sho | Infielder |
| 7 | Nishikawa, Haruki | Outfielder |
| 8 | Kondoh, Kensuke | Outfielder |
| 9 | Nakashima, Takuya | Infielder |
| 12 | Matsumoto, Go | Infielder |
| 14 | Kato, Takayuki | Pitcher |
| 15 | Uwasawa, Naoyuki | Pitcher |
| 16 | Arihara, Kohei | Pitcher |
| 17 | Urano, Hiroshi | Pitcher |
| 19 | Kaneko, Chihiro | Pitcher |
| 20 | Uehara, Kenta | Pitcher |
| 21 | Kiyomiya, Kotaro | Infielder |
| 22 | Tsuruoka, Shinya | Coach |
| 23 | Watanabe, Ryo | Infielder |
| 25 | Miyanishi, Naoki | Pitcher |
| 26 | Asama, Daiki | Outfielder |
| 27 | Martinez, Nick | Pitcher |
| 28 | Hancock, Justin | Pitcher |
| 29 | Iguchi, Kazutomo | Pitcher |
| 30 | Kagiya, Yohei | Pitcher |
| 32 | Yachi, Ryota | Infielder |
| 33 | Barbato, Johnny | Pitcher |
| 34 | Hori, Mizuki | Pitcher |
| 35 | Nishimura, Takahiro | Pitcher |
| 36 | Nakamura, Masaru | Pitcher |
| 38 | Ishii, Kazunari | Infielder |
| 39 | Akiyoshi, Ryo | Pitcher |
| 41 | Rodriguez, Bryan | Pitcher |
| 42 | Kurobane, Toshiki | Catcher |
| 45 | Hiranuma, Shota | Infielder |
| 49 | Kumon, Katsuhiko | Pitcher |
| 51 | Ishikawa, Naoya | Pitcher |
| 52 | Miyadei, Kohei | Pitcher |
| 54 | Tamai, Taisho | Pitcher |
| 57 | Sugiura, Toshihiro | Pitcher |
| 58 | Yokoo, Toshitake | Infielder |
| 67 | Kishisato, Ryosuke | Outfielder |
| 68 | Ishikawa, Ryo | Catcher |
| 73 | Ogata, Koichi | Coach |
| 74 | Takahashi, Noriyuki | Coach |
| 75 | Kawana, Shinichi | Coach |
| 79 | Shiroishi, Noriyuki | Coach |
| 80 | Kuriyama, Hideki | Manager |
| 84 | Atsuzawa, Kazuyuki | Coach |
| 88 | Kaneko, Makoto | Coach |
| 92 | Kida, Masao | Coach |
| 99 | Wang, Po-Jung | Outfielder |
There are also three KBO teams training in Arizona this year. The KT Wiz and the afore-mentioned NC Dinos will be training in Tucson from the end of January until March 8th. KT will be at the Kino Sports Complex while I assume that NC will be Hi Corbett Field but I don't know that for sure. The newly renamed Kiwoom Heroes (formerly Nexen) will be in Peoria from January 30th to February 18th and then in Tucson for some period of time afterward.
In addition the defending KBO champion SK Wyverns will be in Vero Beach, Florida from January 30th to February 24th.
I don't think there's a CPBL team training in the US this year but I could be wrong.
Thanks to MyKBO.net for the information on where the KBO teams are training.