Seibu Lions announce 2018 Spring training camp rosters

A farmer in Miyazaki prefecture decorated the area with Seibu Lions gear welcoming the team in 2017. 

The Saitama Seibu Lions announced their Spring Training camp rosters for both the ichi-gun and ni-gun on Monday, January 22. Shunta Nakatsuka, Shohei Suzuki and Haruka Yamada are among the notables fresh faces in ichi-gun camp.

"[Suzuki and Yamada] made great efforts in the farm last year and also showed something good at the fall camp," Seibu Lions Manager Hatsuhiko Tsuji said.

Among the recent draft picks, both Hiromasa Saito and Sho Ito will also be at the ichi-gun camp. This will give Tsuji a first look at both players.

Ichi-gun camp will take place from February 1-19 in Nango, Miyazaki. The ni-gun camp will be from February 1-23 in Kochi prefecture.

Here is the full camp lists for both groups:

Ichi-gun camp (Miyazaki) 

Pitchers (21): Neil Wagner, Tatsushi Masuda, Tatsuya Oishi, Yusei Kikuchi, Kona Takahashi, Shinsaburo Tawata, Hiromasa Saito, Hayato Takagi, Ken Togame, Shunta Nakatsuka, Shogo Noda, Katsunori Hirai, Hirotaka Koishi, Yosuke Okamoto, Sho Ito, Tomomi Takahashi, Keisuke Honda, Fabio Castillo, Shota Takekuma, Brian Wolfe, Tsubasa Kokuba

Catchers (4): Tomoya Mori, Ginjiro Sumitani, Masatoshi Okada, Shota Nakata

Infielders (8): Hideo Asamura, Shuta Tonosaki, Sosuke Genda, Kyohei Nagae, Hotaka Yamakawa, Haruka Yamada, Takeya "Okawari-kun" Nakamura, Ernesto Mejia

Outfielders (6): Takumi Kuriyama, Kazuo Matsui, Yuji Kaneko, Fumikazu Kimura, Shohei Suzuki, Shogo Akiyama

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Ni-gun camp (Kochi)

Pitchers (15): Tatsuya Imai, Seiji Kawagoe, Ryohei Fujiwara, Yasuo Sano, Yusuke Tamamura, Makoto Aiuchi, Takuya Toyoda, Kentaro Fukukura, Tadasuke Minamikawa, Kaima Taira, Naoaki Matsumoto, Koki Fujita, Chun-Lin Kuo, Kaito Yoza

Catchers (3): Hitoto Komazuki, Komei Fujisawa, Masato Saito*

Infielders (5): Daichi Mizuguchi, Nien Ting Wu, Manaya Nishikawa, Kazuki Kaneko, Ryusei Tsunashima

Outfielders (6): Aito Takeda, Masato Kumashiro, Shogo Saito, Daisuke Togawa, Ryo Sakata, Wataru Takagi*

*indicates ikusei

Bold indicates newcomer

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Interesting that both Kokuba and Honda made the ichi-gun camp as well for two pitchers who have yet to prove their worth. The Lions currently have 66 players on their 70-man roster and will presumably leave two spots open to potentially promote either or both of their ikusei players in M. Saito and W. Takagi.

The Lions will have a kickoff event to introduce the 2018 team publicly on Friday, January 26.

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