The Japanese national team underwent a major generational change ahead of the World Baseball Classic (WBC).
Japanese media Sports Hochi reported on the 26th, “Coach Hideki Kuriyama announced the final list of the Japanese national team at the WBC press conference.”
Prior to this announcement, the Japanese national team, which is aiming for the championship for the first time in 14 years since 2009, already had Shohei Ohtani (Angels), Yu Darvish (San Diego), Seiya Suzuki (Cubs), Masataka Yoshida (Boston), Lars Nuthba (St. Louis), etc. The news of the participation of major league players was announced. The best stars in Nippon Professional Baseball, such as Murakami Munetaka (Yakult), Yamamoto Yoshinobu (Orix), Sasaki Loki (Chiba Lotte), and Yamakawa Hotaka (Seibu), also joined the national team early on.
Sports Hochi looked at the national team list and said, “Among the players (24) who participated in the Tokyo Olympics held in July 2021, there are 10 players included in this national team. Veteran players such as Masahiro Tanaka (Rakuten), Hayato Sakamoto (Yomiuri), Ryosuke Kikuchi (Hiroshima), and Yuki Yanagita (Softbank) were left out. There were various reasons, such as resigning from the national team to focus on the season. However, the youngest 20-year-old Hiroto Takahashi (Chunichi), 21-year-old Sasaki and Miyagi Hiroya (Orix), and Togo Shousei (Yomiuri) joined the national team, and a generational change took place in just a year and a half.” 온라인카지노
Following the Tokyo Olympics, the players selected for the Japanese national team for this tournament are Yamamoto, Murakami, Yoshida, Suzuki, Ryoji Kuribayashi (Hiroshima), Hiromi Ito (Nippon Ham), Takuya Kai, Gensuke Kondo (above Softbank), and Sosuke Genda (Seibu). 10 people, etc. 14 out of 24 Tokyo Olympic gold medal members were replaced, and a complete replacement of the national team was carried out.
Japan, which is drawn along with Korea in Group B of the WBC (Korea, Japan, Australia, China, and the Czech Republic), is considered a strong candidate to win the tournament. Korea will play against Korea on March 10 at the Tokyo Dome in Japan.