Japanese baseball has virtually confirmed 30 representatives to participate in the 2023 World Baseball Classic (WBC) held in March this year.



The final entry is scheduled to be announced at the end of this month, but the list of players selected for the Japanese baseball team has been delivered to each club, and the Japanese media has released it.



Japanese media such as Kyodo News and Daily Sports said, "Samurai Japan (the Japanese baseball team's nickname) has appointed 18 people as WBC representatives."



On the 6th, Japanese national team coach Hideki Kuriyama announced 12 people as 'confirmed', including Shohei Ohtani (Los Angeles Angels), Yu Darvish (San Diego Padres), and Seiya Suzuki (Chicago Cubs).



Afterwards, the selection process for the final entry was sped up, and an additional 18 people were 'involved'.



Reports of 'confirmed joining' came out several times, but the St. Louis Cardinals outfielder `, who was missing from the 12-man list, was added to the list of candidates.



Nutba is a 'Japanese big leaguer' with a Japanese mother.



After completing the administrative procedures, Nutba will be recorded as the first 'player selected for the Japanese baseball team without having Japanese nationality'.



Hiroto Takahashi, born in 2002, also draws attention.



Takahashi was nominated as a professional in 2021 and entered the stage of the first team of the Japanese professional baseball in 2022.



Takahashi, who throws a fast ball with a maximum speed of 158 km/h, started all 19 games last year and posted an average ERA of 2.47 with 6 wins and 7 losses.



Takahashi is the youngest among the 30 people revealed this time.



In addition to these, players representing Japanese baseball, such as Yoshida Masataka (Boston Red Sox), Yamada Tetsuto (Softbank Hawks), and Yamakawa Hotaka (Chunichi Dragons), have virtually confirmed joining the WBC national team as 'indigenous candidates'.



Hayato Sakamoto (Yomiuri Giants), who played shortstop for the Japanese national team from WBC in 2013, did not make the 30-man list.



Sakamoto was embroiled in a sexual scandal and only played 83 games last year.



The Japanese national team will finalize and announce the final 30 players at the end of January.



From February 17th to 27th, we will train at Miyazaki, and on February 25th and 26th, we will have an intermediate checkup with Softbank and evaluation matches.



Japan and South Korea are in Group B with Australia, Czech Republic and China at the 2023 WBC.



Sookmyung's Korea-Japan match will be held on March 10th at 7pm at the Tokyo Dome in Japan.



(Photo = Getty Image Korea)