The members of the Japanese national team for the warm-up game to be held next month for the WBC = World Baseball Classic to be held in March next year have been announced, and Yakult's Munetaka Murakami and Lotte's Aki Sasaki won the triple crown. Pitchers were selected.
As part of their preparations for the WBC next March, the Japanese national baseball team will play warm-up games against the Nippon-Ham Fighters on the 5th of next month at the Tokyo Dome, the Giants on the 6th, and Australia on the 9th and 10th at the Sapporo Dome. It's a schedule.
Coach Kuriyama Hideki, who will take command of the top team for the first time in this warm-up match, held a press conference in Tokyo on the 4th and announced the 28 members of the national team.
Of these, 15 were selected for the first time, including Lotte pitcher Sasaki, who achieved the youngest perfect game in history in April this year, giant pitcher Shosei Togo, DeNA's No. 4 Shugo Maki, and Hanshin's Koji Chikamoto and others were selected.
In addition, Yakult's Murakami, who hit the 56th home run, the most in a season by a Japanese player, and won the triple crown at the youngest in history, Tetsuto Yamada, and Taikai Ito, pitcher of Nippon-Ham, etc. The members who won the gold medal were also selected.
Manager Kuriyama said, "In addition to having the players play multiple positions, I'm talking about asking them to bunt as well in some cases. While making the best use of the characteristics of the players, what is the team lacking? I will play 4 games while thinking about what I have to do in order to do so."
Regarding pitcher Sasaki, who was selected for the first time, he had expectations, saying, "I want you to prove that you are such a pitcher."
In addition, along with the announcement of the members, it was announced that Yoshinori Murata, the giant's coach, will be appointed as the battery coach for warm-up games.
Comments from Aki Sasaki and Munetaka Murakami
Lotte pitcher Roki Sasaki, who was selected for the Japanese national team for the first time, said, "I'm happy to have the opportunity to play with everyone in the national team. I think it will be a valuable time, so I want to absorb a lot of things. It will lead to my future baseball life. I want to pitch," he commented.
Yakult's Munetaka Murakami commented, "I will do my best with a powerful play that will meet everyone's expectations."