Japan announces second wave roster for Classic; Shohei Ohtani and other MLB players to gather end of February

Hirokazu Ibata, manager of the Samurai Japan Classic team, officially revealed the second group of 11 players today. Together with the initial 8 players announced last December, a total of 19 players have been confirmed for this World Baseball Classic. Ibata also mentioned that most MLB players are expected to skip the February training camp in Miyazaki and will instead join the team directly in Nagoya on February 27-28.

The second wave of selected players is as follows:

• Pitchers: Tomoyuki Sugano (free agent), Hiroki Matsumoto (SoftBank)
• Catchers: Seishiro Sakamoto (Hanshin), Kenya Wakatsuki (Orix)
• Infielders: Shugo Maki (Yokohama), Sosuke Genda (Seibu), Teruaki Sato (Hanshin), Taisei Makihara (SoftBank)
• Outfielders: Yuki Sotoh (SoftBank), Kensuke Kondo (SoftBank), Shota Morishita (Hanshin)

The initial roster announced in December 2023 includes:
Shohei Ohtani (Dodgers), Yusei Kikuchi (Angels), Yuki Matsui (Padres), Hiromi Ito (Fighters), Taisei (Giants), Atsuki Taneichi (Marines), Kaima Taira (Seibu), Hiroto Ishii (Hanshin).

Notably, top MLB pitcher Yoshinobu Yamamoto and power hitter Munetaka Murakami have yet to appear on the roster. Regarding this, Ibata explained: "Kazuma Okamoto, Munetaka Murakami, and Yoshinobu Yamamoto have all expressed their willingness to participate, but we have not received official approval from MLB yet, so we cannot formally announce them. We are still awaiting the outcome."

Concerning training arrangements, Ibata stated that most MLB players will skip the February camp in Miyazaki and plan to join the team in Nagoya on February 27-28. This decision considers time zone adjustments to help MLB players be ready for the official warm-up games on March 2-3 and prepare for the main competition.

Also of interest is 36-year-old former MLB pitcher Tomoyuki Sugano, who is currently a free agent and has been selected for the Japan team. Ibata shared that he has communicated with Sugano: "Even though he has not secured a new team yet, we decided to include him on the roster. He will serve as a starting pitcher but with strict pitch count limits, expected to pitch three innings, up to four innings maximum, depending on the situation."