The flexible rules that allow participation in the national team according to parental lineage make the World Baseball Classic (WBC) even more special. Even in the 2023 WBC, many players wear national jerseys, not their current nationalities.토토사이트
Major League Baseball infielder Tommy Edman (28) of St. Louis will play with the Taegeuk mark in this tournament. He became the first foreign national player to play for the Korean national baseball team. Edman was born to an American father and a Korean immigrant mother. His middle name is ‘Hyeonsu’, which is Korean.
Outfielder Lars Nutba (26, St. Louis), who is close friends with Edmund, will play for the Japanese national team. Korea and Japan are in Group B along with Australia, the Czech Republic and China. The relationship between Edmund, a Korean-American, and Nutba, a Japanese-American, has turned from a friend to an enemy.
KBO League KT’s core bullpen Jugwon (28) will play in a Chinese uniform. Ju Kwon, who has a Chinese father and a Korean mother, was naturalized as a Chinese citizen from South Korea in 2007. Following 2017, he also received a love call from China and joined the Chinese national team. However, it is said that the sovereignty will not pitch in the Korean War.
Masago Yusuke (29), an outfielder who played for Nippon Professional Baseball Softbank until last year, will also play for the Chinese national team. Masago’s father is Chinese. In an interview with the Japanese media, he said, “Opportunities to participate in competitions involving the world’s best players do not come easily. I want to have a good experience at the WBC,” he said.
Eric Sogard (37), an infielder who has played 11 years in the major leagues, has joined the Czech national team to participate in the WBC for the first time ever. Sogad obtained citizenship in the Czech Republic, her mother’s country, in January of last year.
Baltimore’s American pitcher Matt Harvey (34) and Brazilian pitcher Thiago Da Silva (38), who plays in the Mexican League, joined the Italian national team. Harvey’s mother is from Italy. Silva obtained Italian citizenship through marriage in 2009 while playing in the Italian League. He has been representing Italy since the 2009 WBC. He was also on the list of the Brazilian national team ahead of the qualifiers before the 2021 WBC was canceled due to Corona 19.
American pitcher Robert Stark (34), who played for Doosan in the KBO League last year, joined the Israeli national team following his Jewish lineage. Stark signed a minor league contract with Milwaukee after leaving Doosan. San Francisco outfielder Zak Pederson (31) also wore the Israeli uniform for the same reason.
Dodgers infielder Freddie Freeman (34), who holds both American and Canadian citizenship, will compete as a Canadian representative. Freeman, a slugger who won the 2020 National League MVP, will face the US National Team in Group C of the group stage. Both Freeman’s parents are from Canada. Freeman first joined the Canadian national team in 2017 and said, “I represent Canada in honor of his mother, who died of skin cancer when he was 10 years old.”