Rookie Fukuoka Softbank Hawks skipper Kimiyasu Kudo reported that his first day of spring training on Sunday was a success since it ended without anyone getting hurt.

“We got through it without anyone getting hurt,” said Kudo, who pitched until he was 47 and who has made a study of sports fitness.

As part of his policy of avoiding injury, the team will carefully monitor players’ fitness for the first three days, when warm-ups will last for 1 hour 20 minutes, 20 minutes longer than they did last year. The players also completed a 2.5-km jog in 12 minutes.

“To the extent of your cardiovascular capacity, you increase capillary density and that leads to prevention of injury,” Kudo said.

Third baseman Nobuhiro Matsuda, the Hawks’ players rep, said the new skipper has been relentless in getting his message across.

“The idea of not getting hurt has been beaten into our heads,” Matsuda said.

While Kudo was back with the Hawks for the first time since he helped pitch them to the 1999 Japan Series championship, 34-year-old pitcher Daisuke Matsuzaka was entering his first spring training in Japan in nine years.

“I was struck again by the feeling that, it’s finally starting,” said Matsuzaka, who has 164 career wins between Japan and the big leagues, but is in his first camp with the Hawks and admitted not knowing his way around.

“I didn’t know where I should practice.”

In Okinawa, third-year Hokkaido Nippon Ham Fighters pitcher-outfielder Shohei Otani came to camp having made some tweaks to his delivery, and threw 64 pitches in the bullpen from the set position while getting in some swings in the batting cage.

“I was able to throw that many pitches because I was throwing pretty loose,” Otani said.

Pitching coach Kazuyuki Atsuzawa said, “It (his pitching) wasn’t like the dangerous motion he had last year.”

In 2014, Otani went 11-4 with 179 strikeouts and a 2.61 earned run average in 155⅓ innings, while batting .274 with 10 home runs in 212 at-bats. In so doing, he became the first professional in Japan to reach double digits in both wins and home runs.

“I want to surpass the numbers I put up last year,” Otani said. “It’s meaningful to keep moving forward.”