Inside the Huddle

The buzz is back.
That’s right, the Kitsap BlueJackets, the county’s summer collegiate baseball team, open the regular season at home June 4.
It should be an interesting season for the Jackets, who struggled to a last-place finish in the West Coast League West Division in 2009. But sixth-year coach Matt Acker, with whom I spoke to Friday morning, is optimistic as the season approaches.
One of the main reasons? The arrival of stars Koji Hamaguchi and Hiroto Ohmachi, both of whom are from Osaka, Japan, and play for Riseisha College. Ohmachi is a 5-foot-10, 187-pound catcher, and Hamaguchi is a 5-11, 154-pound pitcher.
In an area where there already is a large Japanese influence on baseball — Ichiro, anyone? — it will be fun to watch Hamaguchi and Ohmachi right here in Kitsap.
Acker said it’s such a big deal for the two players to be here, that their Riseisha College teammates will make a week-long trip to Kitsap to watch them play.
Look for a feature story on them in the June 4 editions of the Central Kitsap Reporter and Bremerton Patriot. Neither player speaks English, Acker said, but they have a translator in Kitamura Masaki, a baseball agent who has made the trip over and also will serve as an assistant coach this season.
I’ll ask both players about playing across the water from Ichiro, one of Japan’s most legendary ballplayers, and also about adjusting to the American style of play. And how might the language barrier affect their roles on the team?
We’ll have this and much more next week with the 2010 season preview story.
In the meantime, let’s play ball.