Rookie Fukuoka Softbank Hawks skipper Kimiyasu Kudo reported that his first day of spring training on Sunday was a success since it ended without anyone getting hurt.
"We got through it without anyone getting hurt," said Kudo, who pitched until he was 47 and who has made a study of sports fitness.
As part of his policy of avoiding injury, the team will carefully monitor players' fitness for the first three days, when warm-ups will last for 1 hour 20 minutes, 20 minutes longer than they did last year. The players also completed a 2.5-km jog in 12 minutes.