In addition to the six members of last year's WBC = World Baseball Classic, Meiji University's Soyama, who is attracting attention as a centerpiece of the autumn draft meeting, will be included in the Japan national baseball team's warm-up game to be held in March. Four university students, including Rui, were selected.
The Japanese baseball team will play a warm-up game against the European team at Kyocera Dome Osaka on March 6th and 7th as part of their preparation for the international tournament "Premier 12" to be held this November.
This was the first game for Japan national team coach Hirokazu Ibata to lead the top team, and on the 14th he held a press conference in Tokyo to announce the 28-member squad.
Among them,
Meiji University's Soyama, who is a right-handed thrower and left-handed infielder who has the triple ability of running, attacking, and defending, is attracting attention as a centerpiece of this fall's draft conference.
▽ Kansai University's Yumeto Kanamaru, a southpaw pitcher who is known for his fastball speed of over 150 km and is highly rated by professional scouts.
▽Aichi Institute of Technology's authentic right-hand pitcher, Yuto Nakamura,
▽ Four university students were named,
including Fumiyo Nishikawa, a right-handed pitcher and outfielder from Aoyama Gakuin University .
Six people were selected
from last year's winning WBC team, including
Yakult's Munetaka Murakami
, Softbank's Kensuke Kondo
, and Orix's pitcher Daiya Miyagi .
Also
, young players such as Orix's 21-year-old pitcher Shunpei Yamashita
, Chunichi's Koya Ishikawa
, and Hanshin's Shota Morishita
were selected for the first time.
Coach Ibata said, ``In addition to discovering new players, we are also inviting experienced players from the national team, so we want to convey what we want to convey.We were able to choose a good balance of new strengths for the 2026 WBC and the Los Angeles Olympics.'' I was talking.
28 representative members for the warm-up match
These are the 28 members of the baseball team announced for the warm-up match between the Japanese national baseball team and the European national team.
<Pitchers> 12 players
: Orix pitchers Shunpei Yamashita and Daiya Miyagi
; Chunichi pitcher Shinya Matsuyama
; Lotte pitcher Atsushi Taneichi
; Hiroshima pitcher Nobuhito Morishita and Yoshihiro Kuribayashi
; Seibu pitcher Chiichiro Sumida. Pitchers and Kaiba Taira
▽Rakuten's pitcher Shota Watanabe
▽Pitcher Yukaede Nemoto of Nippon-Ham
▽Pitcher Yumeto Kanamaru of Kansai University
▽Pitcher Yuto Nakamura of Aichi Institute of Technology
3 catchers
▽Yuto Koga of Seibu
▽Hiroshima 's Shogo Sakakura
, DeNA's Yudai Yamamoto
(7 infielders)
, Seibu's Sosuke Genda
, Hanshin's Takumu Nakano, Orix's Kotaro Kubayashi
,
Chunichi's Koya Ishikawa
, Hiroshima's Kai Kozono Doo players
, Yakult's Munetaka Murakami
, Meiji University's Rui Soyama (
6 outfielders) ,
Hanshin's Shota Morishita
, Softbank's Kensuke Kondo
, Yakult's Yasutaka Shiomi
, Hiroshima's Shunsuke Tamura
, Nippon Ham's Nakamasa Manba
▽Fumiyo Nishikawa of Aoyama Gakuin University
Aiming to “cultivate future main players” Select amateur players
``There is no doubt that they will enter the world of professional baseball at this year's draft meeting, and I think they have the ability to immediately join the Japanese national team. ``I thought it would be good to wear the uniform,''
Coach Ibata said at the press conference, when asked why he selected four university students for the top team.
Since taking office last fall, Coach Ibata has always said, ``It is important to discover and strengthen young players who will play a central role in the 2026 WBC and the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics.'' We have conducted a number of inspections.
Then, in December of last year, I visited a training camp for candidates for the Japanese collegiate baseball team, checked the players' abilities with my own eyes, and decided to select four members.
At the press conference, there was a scene where Coach Ibata carefully explained in his own words the points he evaluated about the four players.
Meiji University's Soyama is a right-handed pitcher and left-handed infielder with a combination of running, attacking, and defending.He had a total batting average of .348 in Tokyo Six University Baseball and eight home runs, making him a professional shortstop who could hit. It is highly rated by scouts.
Regarding Soyama, ``I first saw him when he was a freshman in college, and his defense of the shortstop was spectacular.Last year, I watched him defend as a temporary coach for the Japanese university national team, and I didn't have anything to say.'' Coach Ibata, who is known as a master shortstop player, generously praised the team, saying, ``His strength is his defense.''
Pitcher Kanemaru of Kansai University is a left-handed pitcher with a fastball of over 150km and a slider that bends a lot.He said, ``His ball control was by far the best among college students, and he not only had the best ball speed, but also the ability to hit inside courses for left-handed batters. ability.''
Regarding Aichi Institute of Technology's pitcher Nakamura, ``In training camp, even in the cold, he was always throwing fastballs in the mid to late 150km range, and there were no balls in the 140km range, so he was outstanding.I hope he throws fast fastballs like that in warm-up games as well.'' I had high hopes.
Regarding Aoyama Gakuin University's Nishikawa, who has long-hitting power, he said, ``I've been batting No. 4 on the Japanese university team since I was a third year student.His flying distance is unmatched among university students, and the No. 4 player on the University Japan team later became a professional player as well. He's doing well, so I have high hopes for him."
On the other hand, this time's national team members include Murakami, Genda, and Kondo, who have won WBC championships, while Nippon Ham's Manami, who played an active role in the young-centered national team last fall, Players such as Hiroshima's Kozono and Seibu's pitcher Sumida were also selected.
Furthermore, we have selected young players who are on the rise, such as Orix's pitcher Yamashita, who will be selected for the first time on the national team, and Chunichi's Ishikawa, and have a well-balanced lineup of young and experienced players, including professional and amateur players, to ``strengthen and develop the national team.'' The selection of members clearly reflects Coach Ibata's aspirations.
Coach Ibata said, ``We are inviting players with experience on the national team, so we want them to convey what we want to tell them, and we want them to show us what professional baseball is like and what it means to be on the national team.'' By playing together, he said, We believe that this will lead to building a strong Japanese national team over the long term, rather than temporarily.
This time, the match will be against a European team that is inferior to Japan in terms of ability and track record, but with an eye on the future, the young players that the coach has high hopes for, saying, ``I believe these players will carry Japan on their backs,'' will be playing in the top team. It will be interesting to see what kind of growth he will show through his activities.
Yumeto Kanamaru, Kansai University: “I want to absorb various things and use them for growth.”
Kansai University's pitcher Yumeto Kanamaru, who was selected as a member of the warm-up game, contributed greatly to the championship with overwhelming pitching in the league game last fall with 6 wins and 0 losses and an ERA of 0.35, and was even drafted by professional scouts. It has received high praise as a number one candidate.
Pitcher Kanemaru responded to an interview at the Suita City Ground in Osaka and said, ``While I'm nervous as it's my first time representing Japan, I'm also looking forward to it.'' I'm looking forward to seeing how effective my pitching will be by making use of my characteristic sharp fastball and control. I want to feel it,” he said with a satisfied look on his face.
He was also enthusiastic about playing alongside professional baseball players, saying, ``I want to absorb various things and use them for my own growth.''