While Hokkaido Nippon Ham rookie Sho Nakata continues to turn heads at the plate during the exhibition season it may be a pair of rookie hurlers that make the biggest difference this year.
Tohoku Rakuten's Kohei Hasebe was impressive in his open-sen debut against the Chiba Lotte Marines, making his case for a spot in Katsuya Nomura's rotation by retiring the first 10 batters he faced and striking out five, last weekend in Nagasaki.
Hasebe was one of the most sought after players in the Industrial/College draft with Rakuten winning a four-team lottery for the right to negotiate the Aichi Kyodo University product.