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MARYVALE, AZ -- It is a couple days into Brewers Spring Training 2012, and Manager Ron Roenicke says he is already noticing some differences in the baseball approach of his outfielder from Japan, Norichika Aoki.
"He has played enough time where he knows what it takes for him to get ready. I'm sure the workout here is not what he's used to in Japan, so he probably felt like he didn't do much yesterday. He actually stayed in an extra group because he hits more swings," Roenicke said.
"I can't imagine the difficulty of coming to another country and not being able to speak the language, and I think just being around the guys more, I think he'll be able to adapt and hopefully understand the language a little bit,"
Getting Aoki comfortable, and all of his offensive players, for that matter, is on Roenicke's to-do list. "With the guys that have been around a lot, I ask them and we come up with a plan. The young guys, I don't think they've really played enough to understand what they need. Through experience, we try to figure out what we think is the right amount of work for them," Roenicke said.
Roenicke says back when he was playing, he preferred to get every at-bat he could during Spring Training so he would be ready once the regular season started.