Hideki Kuriyama, who was the manager of professional baseball Nippon-Ham until this season, is expected to be appointed as the manager of the Japanese national baseball team, according to interviews with the people concerned.

On the 30th, a strengthening committee made up of professionals and amateurs will be held to make a formal decision.

The "Samurai Japan Strengthening Committee" of the Japan Baseball Council, which is made up of representatives of professionals and amateurs, continued to consider the successor to Atsunori Inaba, who led the Japanese national team to the gold medal as a director at the Tokyo Olympics.



Then, as a result of unifying the candidates with Mr. Kuriyama and negotiating, Mr. Kuriyama's consent was obtained by the 29th, so the strengthening committee to be held on the 30th will officially decide to assume the position of director.



Hideki Kuriyama, a 60-year-old from Tokyo, joined Yakult in 1984 and won the Golden Glove Award as an outfielder. He led Nippon-Ham as a director.



He won the league championship in his first year in office, and in 2016, his fifth year, he led the team to the league championship and the third time in the history of the baseball team, including Shohei Ohtani, who is currently playing in the Major League Angels. I retired after the end of this season in my 10th year.



According to the people concerned, in addition to Mr. Kuriyama's skill as a manager, it is expected that he will have a connection with Otani toward the WBC = World Baseball Classic, in which major league players also participate.

What is Hideki Kuriyama?

Hideki Kuriyama is 60 years old from Tokyo.



He joined Yakult from Tokyo Gakugei University in 1984 and was active as an outfielder and won the Golden Glove Award.



After retiring from active duty in 1990, after working as a baseball commentator and sports caster, he served as the director of Nippon-Ham for 10 years from the 2012 season.



Although he had no experience as a leader, he won the league title in 2012, the first year.



In addition, at the draft meeting of this year, Shohei Ohtani, who had clearly stated that he would challenge the major leagues directly from high school at that time, was nominated, and he was able to join the team by showing a policy of training with two swords of throwing.



Manager Kuriyama has prepared an environment to develop Otani's ability and raised him to be a first-class player in both throwing and hitting, overturning the common sense of the ball world. Played.



And I retired after the end of this season of the 10th year.