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Ramping up: 10 days to go

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On Monday, NPB spilled some more news about changes to its 2020 season made necessary by the coronavirus pandemic.

Draft moved to November

The Nikkan Sports reported this year’s amateur draft will be moved back from Oct. 26 to early November and that with no tournaments to attend, scouts have been able to observe high school practices since June 1 with the permission of schools’ director of baseball–yes, some Japanese high schools have directors of baseball.

Planning for cast of thousands

The Nikkan also reported on Monday’s liason meeting between NPB and pro soccer’s J-League. With the government having said that up to 5,000 fans could be allowed into ballparks from July 10, Dr. Mitsuo Kaku, an epidemiologist who has been advising the bodies, recommended teams consider the impact on public transportation and neighboring eating establishments in their planning.

“It’s extremely difficult to execute social distancing when we’re talking about thousands of people,” he said.

Saito: Uniform policy needed

After the conference, NPB commissioner Saito explained that NPB has finally begun to establish some testing policy. Until now, teams have created their own response to potential infections on the fly. According to the Nikkan, NPB will perform roughly 2,000 tests on players, staff and umpires prior to the June 19 season openers at a cost of about 20,000 yen ($180) per test.

There are roughly 1,000 players under contract with NPB clubs at any given time. The plan will be to have everyone undergo testing once a month.

“There are going to be so many different situations, that we absolutely have to lay out our plans in advance,” Saito said.

Last Wednesday, Giants captain Hayato Sakamoto and Giants catcher Takumi Oshiro tested positive for COVID-19. The Giants consulted with specialists before settling on a policy that would allow the two to return to practice after producing negative test results on consecutive days.

The guidelines NPB had leaked a week earlier would have required the pair to self-quarantine for two weeks after testing negative, virtually ruling them out of any games until July.

Baseball, News, Paid Content

Ramping up: 15 days to go

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A day after NPB talk was dominated by Hayato Sakamoto’s brush with COVID-19, let’s start with Thursday’s updated with some good news about Justin Bour finding his power stroke after a lackluster start in February and March.

The bad news is that Roki Sasaki likely won’t pitch in a game prior to the start of the season on June 19. What’s left is that NPB picked up from Wednesday’s COVID-19 scare without breaking stride.

Bour homers for 3rd-straight game

After four singles in 20 spring at-bats, Bour has homered in each of the Hanshin Tigers’ three June practice games so far. The Tigers beat the Hiroshima Carp 6-0 at Koshien Stadium. Reports in Japanese quoted Bour as saying his feel in the batter’s box has improved with the number of at-bats he’s had.

Thursday’s shot was a liner off the right-field fair pole.

Verhagen makes case for starting job

First-year Nippon Ham Fighters import Drew VerHagen allowed three hits over three scoreless innings against the Lotte Marines at Chiba’s Zozo Marine Stadium on Wednesday. The Fighters’ rotation was a patchwork situation last season, so any one capable of getting three or four solid innings should be a plus.

VerHagen was handed No. 36 with the Fighters, although he also seems to have a thing for 51, at least when it comes to strikeouts. VerHagen fanned 51 for Toledo in 2018, and 51 more for the Mud Hens in 2019, when he also notched 51 strikeouts with Detroit. He may have gotten carried away in Detroit in 2018 when he outdid himself with 53.

Marines walk back on Sasaki

Flame-throwing 18-year-old Roki Sasaki’s hopes of finally taking the mound in a pro game were put on hold again, when the Lotte Marines rookie was shelved for this month’s practice games on Thursday.

“He has not quite recovered completely from his pitching in a simulated game on May 26, so I think we’re going to pass on using him in the practice games,” Marines manager Tadahito Iguchi said.

In the simulated game, Sasaki, who was clocked at 101.3 mph in a national team workout last year, threw a pair of pitches at 160 kph (99.4 mph).

“He threw 160 but I think it’s possible his body is not able to sustain that at the moment,” pitching coach Masato Yoshii said. “If we push him too much, it could lead to serious injury.”

The Marines entered camp not expecting Sasaki to pitch on the first team, but the ease at which the lanky right-hander can throw nearly 100 mph drew a crowd every time he went to the bullpen.

Giants, infected pair all test negative

A day after positive tests for Hayato Sakamoto and his Yomiuri Giants teammate Takumi Oshir burst NPB’s safe-opening bubble, the big news on Thursday was that both players and 26 others with the team were tested again and all returned negative results.

NPB teams responded to the news of more coronavirus infections with a yawn. Most of the 12 clubs said that they’ve done everything they need to so there was no reason to do more. The Hiroshima Carp announced that all the players in the organization would undergo a PCR test before Opening Day.

Two Yakult Swallows players, 2019 Central League rookie of the year Munetaka Murakami and pitcher Albert Suarez, however, did have PCR tests taken Thursday after feeling unwell and developing fevers.