Nippon-Ham of Hiromi Ito pitcher (28) participated in pitcher practice at Escondido on March 19 and pitch practice at Escondido's mound. It was his first pitch practice on the slopes since joining the team from Samurai Japan on March 17. On this day, wearing upper and lower game uniforms, he sat catcher down and threw 25 pitches, including a straight ball, change-up and a curveball. He said, "I don't know if that's such a problem output-wise. I hope to do the rest in terms of fine-tuning, or form-wise," he said, showing a steady finish.

He is expected to pitch five inning, throwing around 70-80 pitches, in the game against Yakult on the 21st (at Escon Stadium), and he stated his theme for the game: "I think there are things that will come out as I go through inning, such as how to use the time between inning, so I want to pitch while thinking about various things in order to bring out more of my feel for the game."

The ace, who has already been selected to open the season pitcher at the Mizuho Pay-Pay Dome in the season opener against Softbank Hawks on the 27th, said, "That was my intention when I prepared for the season, and after a thorough discussion between Shinjo and I, we came to the conclusion that it would be best for the team to start the season on a high note. I'd like to do my best to get the team off to a good start.