Led by Ohtani, Japan has the talent to win World Baseball Classic Pool B

Pool B on the World Baseball Classic comprises a captivating mixture of groups starting from one of many match favourites to its final underdog.

Japan and Korea will probably be significantly attention-grabbing to look at. Not solely are they threats to win WBC medals, however they may also present many followers with the chance to see a few of the greatest the NPB and KBO have to supply for the primary time.

Whether these gamers are future main leaguers or not, they’re among the many greatest the world has to supply — and it will likely be a deal with to see them put their abilities on show.

Here’s a rundown on what to anticipate from Pool B:

Japan

Manager: Hideki Kuriyama

WBC historical past: Japan gained the primary two World Baseball Classic tournaments in 2006 and 2009. The nation managed third-place finishes in 2013 and 2017.

Projected lineup:

C Yuhei Nakamura

1B Hotaka Yamakawa

2B Shugo Maki

3B Munetaka Murakami

SS Sosuke Genda

LF Masataka Yoshida

CF Lars Nootbar

RF Seiya Suzuki

DH Shohei Ohtani

Notable pitchers: RHP Shohei Ohtani, RHP Yu Darvish, RHP Yoshinobu Yamamoto, RHP Roki Sasaki, LHP Shota Imanaga

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Need to know: Japan has by no means failed to complete within the high three on the World Baseball Classic they usually’ve acquired an ideal likelihood to maintain that run going.

Ohtani’s two-way excellence will probably be a big driver of this crew’s success, however Japan will not be a one-man present. It’s acquired three main leaguers within the outfield and two spectacular energy bats on the infield corners.

Murakami and Yamakawa mixed for 97 house runs final season as the previous set the NPB report for a Japanese-born participant (56).

This pitching workers is headed by Ohtani and Darvish, however full of spectacular arms. 

Yamamoto is essentially the most dominant pitcher in Japan in the intervening time with two straight Sawamura Awards — NPB’s Cy Young equal — in his trophy case. He’s produced a 1.54 ERA in 386.2 innings over the past two seasons, putting out 411 batters.

Sasaki will probably be one other pitcher to look at because the thrilling 21-year-old brings triple-digit warmth. The right-hander struck out 173 batters in 129.1 innings in his first full NPB season final 12 months with a 2.02 ERA.

Korea

Manager: Kang Chul Lee 

WBC historical past: Korea got here third within the first WBC (2006) and second within the second iteration of the match (2009). It hasn’t had a lot success since then, coming ninth in 2013 and tenth in 2017.

Projected lineup: 

C Eui-ji Yang

1B Jeong Choi

2B Tommy Edman

3B ByungHo Park

SS Ha-Seong Kim

LF Hyun Soo Kim

CF Jung-Hoo Lee

RF Sung-Bum Na

DH Kun-Woo Park

Notable pitchers: LHP Kwang-Hyun Kim, LHP Eui-Lee Lee, RHP Hyeong-Jun So, RHP Been Gwak, RHP Woo-Suk Go

Need to know: Korea’s crew isn’t filled with family names for MLB followers, however there’s loads of expertise right here. The center infield combo of Edman and Ha-Seong Kim is prone to play extraordinary defence whereas the outfield is filled with massive bats.

Na is a KBO famous person who flirted with coming to the majors in recent times and Hyun Soo Kim has greater than 200 house runs in Korea. The man to look at is Lee, although. The centre fielder gained KBO MVP in 2022 and he’s anticipated to search out his option to MLB within the close to future.

This workers is led by a southpaw — Kwang-Hyun Kim — who produced a 2.97 ERA in 145.2 innings with the St. Louis Cardinals between 2020 and 2021, then excelled again in Korea final 12 months. 

Behind him, the crew options a formidable trio of starters (Lee, So, and Gwak) who’re all 23 and below that mixed for 473 innings of three.54 ERA ball within the KBO final season. 

Late in video games, Korea’s greatest weapon is Woo-Suk Go, who led the KBO with 42 saves in 2022 with a 1.48 ERA.

Australia

Manager: Dave “Dingo” Nilsson

WBC historical past: Australia’s greatest displaying got here in 2017 as they completed ninth with a optimistic run differential (+7). In three different appearances, they’ve completed between twelfth and sixteenth 

Notable place gamers: OF Aaron Whitefield, C Alex Hall, SS Liam Spence

Notable pitchers: RHP Warwick Saupold, RHP Kyle Glogoski, LHP Jack O’Loughlin, RHP Liam Doolan, LHP Blake Townsend

Need to know: Australia has produced a couple of massive leaguers through the years, however this group is sort of totally composed of ABL stars. 

Whitehead is a participant to look at as he’s a longtime speedster on the minor-league stage with eight MLB appearances below his belt.

Hall is a Milwaukee Brewers prospect who’s the reigning ABL MVP whereas Spence is a Chicago Cubs minor leaguer who simply gained the league’s Rookie of the Year honours.

Australia’s most confirmed pitcher is Saupold, a 33-year-old who logged 106.2 MLB innings between 2016 and 2018.

Beyond the right-hander, the Aussies will lean on doesn’t some arms with expertise in affiliated ball like Glogoski — who figures to start out for the crew — and relievers like Doolan, O’Loughlin and Townsend.

China

Manager: Dean Treanor

WBC historical past: China has participated in each WBC, ending between eleventh and sixteenth every time.

Notable place gamers: SS Ray Chang, OF Yusuke Masago

Notable pitchers: RHP Hai-Cheng Gong, RHP Alan Carter

Need to know: It’s powerful to anticipate a lot from a rustic that scored simply 1 run in its final WBC look and lacks confirmed expertise.

China’s best-known place gamers are Chang — who performed within the minors from 2005-2016 — and Masago, who has put collectively a six-year profession in NPB, logging most of his professional video games within the Japanese Winter League.

On the pitching facet, the Chinese characteristic Carter, who signed a minor-league contract with the Los Angeles Angels within the offseason and Gong, a right-hander who pitched 41 professional innings between 2018 and 2019.

Treanor may have his work reduce out for him main this facet, however he has managed for 12 seasons at varied minor-league ranges and has expertise as an MLB bullpen coach.

Czech Republic

Manager: Pavel Chadim

WBC historical past: This is the Czech Republic’s WBC debut. The crew didn’t enter in 2006 and 2009 and didn’t qualify in 2013 and 2017.

Notable place gamers: INF Eric Sogard, C Martin Cervanka, OF Marek Chlup

‘Notable pitchers: RHP Filip Capka, LHP Lukas Ercoli, and LHP Tomas Duffek

Need to know: It could be surprising if this squad made any actual noise on the match as its compromised primarily of Czech Baseball Extraliga stars — most of whom work day jobs and play baseball on the facet.

Cervanka has performed Triple-A ball and Sogard took MLB at-bats as not too long ago as 2021. Chlup is coming off a massive season on the NCAA stage. 

The pitchers listed are Extraliga fixtures who determine to make some begins for this crew.

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