The World Baseball Classic (WBC) Japan team’s first round selection rotation is likely to be partially adjusted.
The Japanese press reported that a scenario in which Shohei Otani (LA Angels) is replaced by Yoshinobu Yamamoto (Orix), ace of the Japanese Professional Baseball League, as the starter for the match against China scheduled to take place at Tokyo Dome on March 9th, is likely.
The Japanese sports newspaper ‘Sankei Sports’ reported the current pace of Yamamoto, who pitched in the bullpen at the Miyazaki national team camp the day before on the 20th, and predicted a change in the starting rotation for the first round that was initially revealed.토토사이트
Japan seemed likely to put Ohtani in the match against China, the first match of the first round, Yu Darvish (San Diego) in the match against Korea on the 10th, and Yamamoto in the match against Australia (on the 12th). In the last game against the Czech Republic (13th), Roki Sasaki (Chiba Lotte) took the mound as a starter.
However, Ohtani’s delay in joining the national team and adapting to jet lag have emerged as variables, and Yamamoto, who is already showing a good pace, is appearing ahead, raising the possibility of changing the strategy.
In fact, Ohtani is scheduled to fly to Japan after appearing in a major league exhibition game against Milwaukee on March 2nd. After that, it is only possible to pitch before the official evaluation on March 6, but considering the schedule of the first round of the first round on March 9, it is not easy to create a pitching routine.
On the other hand, Yamamoto threw 36 pitches in bullpen pitching that day and has no difficulty in matching the rotation for the first round, as he has a schedule to start a practice game with Softbank on the 25th. For the first time in Japanese professional baseball history, the pitcher won four crowns (most wins, ERA, highest win rate, strikeouts) for two consecutive seasons, and is also showing the momentum at the national team training ground for the new season.
The selection for the China match and the Korea match is important because one of the two pitchers will continue to pitch as a starter for the quarterfinals on the 16th. What will the Japanese national team do? While the media put weight on changing the first starter to Yamamoto, it did not rule out pushing for the Ohtani card with fine-tuning of the schedule.