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 Jason Coskrey

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Jason Coskrey
Jason Coskrey is a sports writer for The Japan Times. His primary focus is Japanese baseball, but he has also covered soccer, American football, boxing and basketball. He previously worked for the Marietta Daily Journal in Marietta, Ga. A native of Detroit, he is a graduate of the University of Alabama-Birmingham.
Japan Times
BASEBALL / Japanese Baseball / HIT AND RUN
Feb 2, 2017
Otani better off skipping World Baseball Classic than risking injury
There is no reason for Shohei Otani to participate in the 2017 World Baseball Classic.
Japan Times
BASEBALL / Japanese Baseball / HIT AND RUN
Jan 30, 2017
Samurai Japan's stars have to come to grips with WBC ball
Throwing a baseball isn't rocket science. Unless, apparently, that ball is the official baseball of the World Baseball Classic and is being thrown by a member of Samurai Japan.
Japan Times
BASEBALL / Japanese Baseball / NPB NOTEBOOK
Jan 29, 2017
WBC duty means quick turnaround for foreign stars
Now that spring camps are only a few days away for NPB teams — some players are already working out "independently" together — the foreign contingent has begun trickling into the country. It was mostly the first-year foreign players the past couple of weeks, but now the veterans have started showing...
Japan Times
BASEBALL
Jan 24, 2017
Japan fills out team for World Baseball Classic
Samurai Japan mostly filled out its roster for the 2017 World Baseball Classic on Tuesday, adding eight players, but no major leaguers, to the 19 names released in December.
Japan Times
MORE SPORTS
Jan 17, 2017
World No. 5 Spieth visits Tokyo to promote new signature golf shoes
Jordan Spieth is a better golfer than teacher.
Japan Times
BASEBALL / Japanese Baseball / HIT AND RUN
Jan 11, 2017
Time ripe for Lions hurler Kikuchi to prove worth on mound
There is a chance that by 2019, pitchers Yusei Kikuchi and Shohei Otani could both be major leaguers. In 2009, MLB scouts flocked to Hanamaki Higashi High School, in Iwate Prefecture, to flirt with Kikuchi, a fire-balling lefty, before returning a few years later to put a full-court press on Otani.
Japan Times
BASEBALL
Jan 9, 2017
Former MLB great Ramirez reaches agreement with Kochi
Former MLB star Manny Ramirez is on his way to Japanese baseball after Monday's announcement that the 44-year-old slugger had reached an agreement with the Kochi Fighting Dogs of the independent four-team Shikoku Island League Plus.
Japan Times
BASEBALL / Japanese Baseball / NPB NOTEBOOK
Jan 7, 2017
Players ramp up training before camps
There were a number of NPB stars on the move during the first week of 2017.
Japan Times
BASEBALL / Japanese Baseball / HIT AND RUN
Jan 2, 2017
New year brings new hopes for some in Japanese baseball
Daisuke Matsuzaka pitched his final game of 2016 in the maroon and yellow of the Gigantes de Carolina in the Puerto Rican winter league. Matsuzaka threw seven innings in that Dec. 29 start, giving up three hits and allowing his only run in the seventh inning.
Japan Times
BASEBALL / Japanese Baseball / HIT AND RUN
Dec 22, 2016
Tanaka, Iwakuma the dream ticket for Japan's WBC roster
Samurai Japan added the first major league player to its roster for the World Baseball Classic on Wednesday, when Houston Astros outfielder Norichika Aoki signed up for his third WBC.
Japan Times
BASEBALL / Japanese Baseball
Dec 20, 2016
Otani heads early WBC roster for Samurai Japan
Samurai Japan released a partial roster for next spring's World Baseball Classic on Tuesday, naming 18 players who will be part of the squad tasked with bringing the title back to Japan in March.
Japan Times
BASEBALL / Japanese Baseball / HIT AND RUN
Dec 19, 2016
Free-agent compensation choices usually risky bets
The Orix Buffaloes will hope taking right-handed pitcher Kazuyuki Kaneda from the Hanshin Tigers as compensation for the Tigers signing former Buffalos outfielder Yoshio Itoi in free agency ends up being a productive outcome for the loss of such a talented player, but history isn't really on their side....
Japan Times
JAPAN / Politics
Dec 10, 2016
Valentine denies official talk of being offered Japan ambassador post by Trump
Ex-Chiba Lotte Marines manager Bobby Valentine says he has not been in contact with the Trump team amid reports he is under consideration to become the ambassador to Japan.
Japan Times
BASEBALL / Japanese Baseball / HIT AND RUN
Dec 5, 2016
Giants stay busy during offseason
The Yomiuri Giants haven't won the Central League pennant since 2014, which might as well be 1914 in Yomiuri Land, and apparently are not going to sit idly by and watch another team take the flag in 2017.
Japan Times
BASEBALL / Japanese Baseball / NPB NOTEBOOK
Dec 2, 2016
Otani eyes new goals following award-winning season for Fighters
Asking what can Shohei Otani do better in 2017 is akin to the question of what do you get the person who already has everything.
Japan Times
BASEBALL / Japanese Baseball
Nov 30, 2016
Resurgent Carp veteran Arai turned back clock during MVP season
Many fans might have thought Takahiro Arai was heading to the Hiroshima Carp to retire.
Japan Times
BASEBALL / Japanese Baseball
Nov 29, 2016
Otani, Arai win MVP awards
Shohei Otani's historic season of rewriting the record books and challenging conventional baseball wisdom reached its logical conclusion on Monday night.
Japan Times
BASEBALL / Japanese Baseball
Nov 25, 2016
Otani makes history with Best Nine selection at both pitcher and DH
Hokkaido Nippon Ham Fighters star Shohei Otani made history when he was named to the Pacific League's Best Nine team as both pitcher and designated hitter when the awards were announced Friday afternoon.
Japan Times
BASEBALL / Japanese Baseball / NPB NOTEBOOK
Nov 18, 2016
Fighters not giving up on 'Handkerchief Prince' Saito
Yuki Saito hasn't justified the hype that came with his being drafted by the Hokkaido Nippon Ham Fighters in 2010, but the reigning Japan Series champions aren't giving up on him just yet.
Japan Times
BASEBALL
Nov 15, 2016
Otani's extraordinary skills gain wider exposure during games against Mexico, Netherlands
The only reason Shohei Otani won't be Japan's breakout star at the 2017 World Baseball Classic is because everybody is already talking about the Hokkaido Nippon Ham Fighters star.

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