NPB stars to represent No. 1 Japan in WBSC Premier12
TOKYO – Top-ranked Japan recently revealed a roster of 28 stars from Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB) to represent the country and defend its world No. 1 ranking at the inaugural WBSC Premier12.
<p><img class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-14960" src="https://static.wbsc.org/wp-content/uploads/tweeter.jpg" alt="Japan National Baseball Team - Piitchers" width="1600" height="800" srcset="https://static.wbsc.org/wp-content/uploads/tweeter.jpg 1600w, https://static.wbsc.org/wp-content/uploads/tweeter-300x150.jpg 300w, https://static.wbsc.org/wp-content/uploads/tweeter-768x384.jpg 768w, https://static.wbsc.org/wp-content/uploads/tweeter-1024x512.jpg 1024w, https://static.wbsc.org/wp-content/uploads/tweeter-1080x540.jpg 1080w, https://static.wbsc.org/wp-content/uploads/tweeter-1280x640.jpg 1280w" sizes="(max-width: 1600px) 100vw, 1600px" /></p>
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<p>TOKYO – Top-ranked Japan recently revealed a roster of 28 stars from Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB) to represent the country and defend its world No. 1 ranking at the inaugural WBSC Premier12.</p>
<p>The newest flagship international baseball event features the top-12 ranked nations in the world and is being staged in Japan and Taiwan from 8-21 November.</p>
<p>Headlining the National Team is pitcher Takahiro Norimoto, who combined with three other Samurai Japan pitchers to throw a no-hitter against Team MLB in the Japan Series last November.</p>
<p>Fan-favourites like Kenta Maeda, Shohei Otani, Sho Nakata, Tetsuto Yamada and Yuki Yanagita will also be wearing Japan across their chests in the WBSC Premier12.</p>
<p>According to Twitter, on the day that Samurai Japan unveiled its players, the Premier12 became one of the hottest trending topics on the social media platform in Japan.</p>
<p>Manager Hiroki Kokubo, who led the selection process, said, “These are the best 28 players we have in the world.”</p>
<p><strong>Pitchers (13)<br />
</strong>Shohei Ohtani (Nippon-Ham Fighters)<br />
Shinatro Fujinami (Hanshin Tigers) — UPDATE: Substituted by Yasuhiro Ogawa (Tokyo Yakult)<br />
Kenta Maeda (Hiroshima Toyo)<br />
Kazuhisa Makita (Saitama Seibu)<br />
Hirotoshi Masui (Hokkaido Nippon-Ham),<br />
Yuki Matsui (Tohoku Rakuten)<br />
Yuki Nishi (ORIX Buffaloes)<br />
Takahiro Norimoto (Tohoku Rakuten)<br />
Yudai Ono (Chunichi)<br />
Hirokazu Sawamura (Yomiuri)<br />
Tomoyuki Sugano (Yomiuri)<br />
Shota Takeda (Fukoka SoftBank)<br />
Yasuaki Yamasaki (Yokohama DeNA)</p>
<p>Pitchers Fujinami and Ohtani (in 2012) and Matsui (in 2013) represented Japan at the WBSC U-18 Baseball World Cup.</p>
<p><strong>Catchers (3)</strong></p>
<p>Motohiro Shima (Tohoku Rakuten)<br />
Ginjiro Sumitani (Saitama Seibu)<br />
Yuhei Nakamura (Tokyo Yakult)</p>
<p><strong>Infielders (7)</strong></p>
<p>Takeya Nakamura (Saitama Seibu)<br />
Shingo Kawabata (Tokyo Yakult)<br />
Nobuhiro Matsuda (Fukuoka SoftBank)<br />
Takuya Nakashima (Hokkaido Nippon-Ham)<br />
Sho Nakata (Hokkaido Nippon-Ham)<br />
Hayato Sakamoto (Yoimuri Giants)<br />
Tetsuto Yamada (Tokyo Yakult)</p>
<p><strong>Outfielders (5)</strong></p>
<p>Shogo Akiyama (Saitama Seibu)<br />
Ryosuke Hirata (Chunichi)<br />
Yoshitomo Tsutsugo (Yokohama DeNA)<br />
Seiichi Uchikawa (Fukuoka SoftBank)<br />
Yuki Yanagita (Fukuoka SoftBank)</p>
<p>Japan’s Premier12 National Team, placed in Group B, will report to training under Kokubo on 2 November and will warm up with exhibition games against world No. 10 Puerto Rico (Group A) on 5-6 November at the Yahoo Dome in Fukuoka.</p>
<p>Japan will officially open their WBSC Premier12 on 8 November at the 40,000-seat Sapporo Dome against rival and world No. 8 South Korea.</p>