Four more Hawks sign, draft picks introduced
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Players who re-signed today were Nobuhiro Matsuda (42 million yen), Yuya Hasegawa (40 million yen), Katsuki Yamazaki (28 million yen), and Yuki Kume (15 million yen). Matsuda and Yamazaki both got raises to the tune of 6 million yen each, Hasegawa saw no change in his salary, and Kume saw a reduction of 5 million yen.
In a press conference, the Hawks draft picks were introduced. Chief among those picks was catcher Ayatsugu Yamashita. He bats left, throws right, and was issued the number 22. He is the second-youngest of the 2010 Hawks draft class at 18 years and just under two months.
The elder statesman of the class, 2nd round pick Yuki Yanagida (22 years of age), was issued Akio Mizuta's old number, 44. The young outfielder will need seasoning and faces stiff competition at ni-gun in the outfield.
The remaining three picks were all pitchers: Takaki Minami, Daichi Hoshino, and Masato Sakata. They were issued the numbers 59, 56, and 67, respectively. Interestingly, Hoshino and Sakata's birthdays are one day apart from each other, with those being March 12th for Hoshino, and the 13th for Sakata.
Finally today, the team did end up offering shortstop Munenori Kawasaki a multi-year deal (terms not disclosed) and the one-year deal that he signed. Kawasaki also said that he wants to break Matt Murton's single-season hits record, and has set a lofty goal of 290 hits for the 2011 season.
The veteran shortstop also added, "Ideally, I'll bat 1.000 and hit 70 homers, but I'll approach the season with the idea of collecting about 290 hits. I want to play for the fans. I want to fulfill my destiny as a professional play. And I just want to have fun while I play."