“I was contacted to be excluded from the national team”

Japanese media Sponichi Annex reported on the 25th that Masahiro Tanaka (Rakuten) was eliminated from the 2023 World Baseball Classic (WBC) Japan national team.

The media said, “Tanaka said that he received a phone call from Samurai Japan coach Hideki Kuriyama and heard that he had been excluded from the final entry for the WBC national team.”

He continued, “(Tanaka) showed a positive attitude toward the selection of the national team, but his third appearance in 10 years after the 2013 tournament was misplaced.” 토토사이트

Tanaka said, “I was contacted once to the effect that I was not included in the 30 members of the national team,” and said, “Of course, I will watch the WBC and go to support (the Japanese national team).”

On the 6th, national team coach Kuriyama first announced 12 people, including Shohei Ohtani (LA Angels) and Yu Darvish (San Diego Padres), as ‘confirmed players’ for the Japanese WBC national team.

Otani, Darvish, Roki Sasaki (Chiba Lotte), Yoshinobu Yamamoto (Orix), Shota Imanaga (Yokohama), and Shosei Dogo (Yomiuri) were selected first as pitchers.

Later, in mid-January, Japanese media reported that “Samurai Japan (Japanese baseball team) has appointed 18 people as WBC representatives.” It was not an official announcement, but the participating players were gathered and released. 

Tanaka, who was not on the list of 18 players, announced on the 25th that coach Kuriyama’s ‘notice of elimination’. 

The Japanese WBC national team will officially announce the final 30 players at the end of January. Japan will play the first round in Group B with South Korea, Australia, Czech Republic and China. The Korea-Japan rivalry will be held on March 10th at the Tokyo Dome in Japan.