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Twins hire Japanese athletic trainer Masa Abe

Article reposted from SB Nation Twinkie Town
Author: myjah

The Twins recently made a slew of minor league coaching changes, but one new hire in particular piqued my interest: Masa Abe.

Abe, 39, was hired as the organization’s new assistant MLB trainer. If you couldn’t tell from the name, yes, he’s Japanese. He was born in Aiehi, Japan, and attended high school there before coming to the US to attend University of Northern Colorado. After graduating with an undergraduate degree in Athletic Training in 2007, Abe went on to earn a master’s degree in biomechanics from Louisiana State University.

As far as his professional career goes, Abe’s always worked in baseball. He joined the Arizona Diamondbacks in 2011 and has been moving up the minor league system as an athletic trainer. Last season he served as the Athletic Trainer for the Triple-A Reno Aces, where he was responsible for the care of over 60 different players, including four big leaguers on rehab assignment. His efforts apparently did not go unnoticed, as he was named the Pacific Coast League Trainer of the Year! Apparently, the Professional Baseball Athletic Trainers Society (PBATS) gives an award to the top trainer in each of the 16 minor leagues baseball leagues every year, which is something I’ve never heard of before being a Minnesota Twins fan. As the winner of the award in the PCL, Abe is now in the running for the 2017 Minor League Athletic Trainer of the Year award, which will be announced during baseball’s upcoming Winter Meetings.

It’s probably obvious why this new hire caught my eye: he’s Japanese, and the Twins have been rumored to be pursuing Japanese stars Yu Darvish and Shohei Ohtani. Obviously there is no way of telling whether this is at all related to those pursuits, but having a athletic trainer who speaks Japanese doesn’t seem like it would hurt — particularly in Ohtani’s case, since teams have to actively convince him that their organization is a good fit. In fact, former Mariners front office executive Tony Blengino was recently on Fangraphs’ Effectively Wild podcast to talk about the memo Ohtani asked each team to write about themselves, and he believes several of the questions Ohtani asked were specifically aimed at finding out how teams treated rehab and injuries.

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Aces’ Abe named PCL Athletic Trainer of the Year

Article reposted from kolo8 News Now
Author: Reno Aces

The Professional Baseball Athletic Trainers Society (PBATS) has selected Reno Aces’ Masa Abe as the Pacific Coast League Trainer of the Year. Abe is Reno’s first trainer to take home the award in the franchise’s nine-year history.

The award is given annually to one member of each of the 16 Leagues in Minor League Baseball, as well as the Dominican Summer League, in a selection by their peers. As the PCL winner, Abe is now eligible for the Minor League Athletic Trainer of the Year award, which is voted upon by full membership of the PBATS and announced at the 2017 Major League Baseball Winter Meetings in Orlando, Florida.

Abe is in his second season with Reno and seventh season with the Diamondbacks medical staff. He began his professional career in 2011 with Rookie-level AZL D-backs and moved up to Rookie-advanced Missoula in 2012. In his one season in Missoula, he was named the Pioneer League Athletic Trainer of the Year. Abe’s ascension up the D-backs minor league ladder continued when he jumped to Advanced-A Visalia in 2013 and Double-A Mobile for the 2014-2015 campaigns.

Prior to joining the D-backs, Abe was a graduate assistant trainer at the University of Arkansas. A native of Aiehi, Japan, Abe graduated from the Toyota National of College of Tech High School in Toyota, Japan, and went on to earn his degree in mechanical engineering in 2001. Abe came to the United States and attended Northern Colorado where he earned his undergraduate degree in athletic training in 2007. Abe worked as a Minor League assistant athletic trainer/strength and conditioning coach for one season with the Class A Short-Season Vancouver Canadians.

The Aces return home to Greater Nevada Field for four final regular season home games labor weekend, September 1-4, against the Albuquerque Isotopes. Playoff tickets are also available for reservation by visiting the ticket office or renoaces.com. Potential home playoff games are Wednesday, September 6th and Thursday, September 7th at Greater Nevada Field, both scheduled for 7:05 p.m. For 2018 ticket packages or more information, call (775) 334-4700. Follow the club all season long on Twitter (@Aces) or like the team on Facebook.