Japan announced on the 26th that it had confirmed 30 baseball representatives to participate in the 5th World Baseball Classic (WBC).
Japanese baseball team coach Hideki Kuriyama first announced 12 of the final entry (30 players) on the 6th of this month, followed by an additional 18 players on the same day.
In Japan, American professional baseball major leaguers such as Yu Darvish (San Diego), Shohei Ohtani (Los Angeles Angels, ideal pitcher), Seiya Suzuki (Chicago Cubs), Lars Nutba (St. Louis Cardinals), Masataka Yoshida (Boston Red Sox, ideal pitcher) 30 people were filled with 5 people and 25 people evenly selected from 12 Nippon Professional Baseball teams.
There are 15 pitchers, 3 catchers, 7 infielders and 5 outfielders.
Nikkan Sports, a Japanese sports magazine, introduced that the average age of the Japanese national team is 27.3 years old, making it the youngest compared to the previous four WBC national teams.
The youngest player is Chunichi Dragons right-hander Hiroto Takahashi (21), and the oldest is Darvish (37).
There are 4 left-handed pitchers and 7 batters who throw right-handed and hit left-handed.
The four starting pitchers were Darvish, Ohtani, Yamamoto Yoshinobu (Orix Buffaloes), and Sasaki Rocky (Chiba Lotte Marines) right-handers. 메이저놀이터
Japan won the WBC in 2006 and 2009 and advanced to the semifinals in 2013 and 2017.
Japan, who toasted the 2019 World Baseball Softball Confederation (WBSC) and the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, will challenge the WBC this year for the first time in 14 years.
Korea and Japan, which are organized in Group B and play the first round of the finals, will also play a Korea-Japan match at the WBC in 14 years.
The Japanese national team started joint training in Miyazaki Prefecture on February 17, and the Softbank Hawks (February 25-26), Chunichi (March 3-4), Hanshin Tigers and Orix (March 6-7), etc. He warms up with six rounds of evaluation matches against the Japanese professional team.