Tanaka not winded while running this time around
New Yanks pitcher was caught off guard by laps after Saturday's bullpen session
TAMPA, Fla. -- Masahiro Tanaka laced up his Asics running shoes early in the morning and was ready for whatever came next. On his second day of camp, there weren't going to be any surprises.
One day after having difficulty wrapping up his workout, Tanaka said that he had no issues with Sunday's prescribed running for the Yankees' pitchers at George M. Steinbrenner Field.
"Today was short distance. No problem at all," Tanaka said through an interpreter, adding a wide smile.
The comment came one day after Tanaka threw a 32-pitch bullpen session, then appeared to move slowly while completing four laps around the warning track of a practice field (approximately one mile).
Tanaka said that he had been running in Japan while training, but he was caught off guard by Saturday's assignment, saying that he "just didn't know he was going to run yesterday at that particular time."
Otherwise, Tanaka said that "as far as drills go, it's pretty much the same here as over in Japan." He is still adjusting to the amount of media attention, which Tanaka said is greater than what he was used to experiencing with the Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles.
"It's hard to compare with the attention of the Yankees to the Rakuten Eagles," Tanaka said. "The Eagles are still a fairly new team. The Yankees are very rich in tradition and history. It's not comparable."