Jed Lowrie was first put into the competition and promised an everyday job but instead took over everyday shortstop due to the struggles and injury of Hiroyuki Nakajima.
Nakajima opted to apply to the prestigious Hōtoku Gakuen High School within the prefecture but was rejected and ended up enrolling in Itami Kita Senior High School, a local school and a complete unknown in high school baseball.
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As of March 25, 2013, Nakajima was batting only .150 with 1 double and 1 RBI in spring training, and John Shea of the San Francisco Chronicle reported that he may start the 2013 season in the minor leagues.
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He is easily recognizable by his distinct batting stance in which he holds the bat high above his head, much like the jōdan no kamae seen in Kendo (a Japanese martial art).
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One major league executive told Ken Rosenthal of Fox Sports that Nakajima's range at shortstop is average "at best," and a different evaluator told Buster Olney of ESPN that he is not an everyday player.
Hiroyuki Sakai | Hiroyuki Sanada | Nakajima B5N | Hiroyuki Iwatsuki | Nakajima Ki-44 | Nakajima Ki-43 | Nakajima Aircraft Company | Miyuki Nakajima | Hiroyuki Takei | Hiroyuki Iwaki | Hiroyuki Hisataka | Nakajima Ki-44 'Tojo' | Nakajima B5N 'Kate' | Nakajima A6M2-N | Hiroyuki Konishi | Hiroyuki Asada | Yuto Nakajima | Yu Nakajima | Shigeo Nakajima | Nakajima LB-2 | Nakajima Kikka | Nakajima Ki-27 | Nakajima E8N | Nakajima E4N | Kazuki Nakajima | Kato Hiroyuki | Hiroyuki Wakabayashi | Hiroyuki Tamakoshi | Hiroyuki Onoue | Hiroyuki Nishimura |