As spring training comes winding to a close in Okinawa and Miyazaki prefectures, players and fans ponder the future of games without spectators — turning the often poorly attended exhibitions into practice games without fans.

Sasaki heats up Marines’ pen

Roki Sasaki threw his seventh pen of the spring on Thursday, and drew a crowd at Orix’s camp in Miyazaki ahead of the Lotte Marines practice game against the Buffaloes.

According to Nikkan Sports, Marines pitching coach Masato Yoshii marveled at the 18-year-old’s ability to throw strikes (“I didn’t throw a single strike in my first camp bullpen”), but said the pitcher’s arm action was still only about 50 percent — whatever that means.

They had a camera behind the catcher on TV and it was a little scary. His motion is so easy, it seems unreal how quickly the ball gets there. You get a taste of that in the video below from his third pen.