We’re bordering on one week to go before Nippon Professional Baseball joins its Asian rivals from Taiwan and South Korea by playing regular season games.

Hawks pick six starters

The SoftBank Hawks on Thursday revealed their starting rotation when they open the season next Friday on June 19, the Hochi Shimbun reported. Ace Kodai Senga, who is rehabbing from a right-forearm injury only made his first pitching appearance of the year last Friday in a minor league practice game, and was not on the list.

Kudo had already named right-hander Nao Higashihama, former ace lefty and former Chicago Cub Tsuyoshi Wada, and veteran big leaguer Matt Moore. On Thurday he added Rick van den Hurk, Shuta Ishikawa and journeyman Akira Niho.

“The first couple of weeks, it’s not like the starters will be going deep into games,” Kudo said. “In a context like that, it’s better to have guys who can throw two or three innings.”