The World Baseball Classic (WBC) is the world’s best international competition in terms of baseball. However, after the first WBC was held in 2006, there was no difference in perspective on the nature of the tournament depending on the viewpoint. For example, there were many cases in which a large number of major leaguers did not participate due to the opposition of their team. This is why it doesn’t look like a national competition of a ‘death decision’ as much as the soccer World Cup.
But even this cannot be a very universal interpretation. It is because there are quite a few players who put all other values behind and put all their efforts toward the WBC. 메이저놀이터
The behind-the-scenes story about the composition of the players revealed by Japan national team coach Hideki Kuriyama is becoming a hot topic. Japanese media ‘The Digest’ highlighted the process of joining Masataka Yoshida, who joined the Boston Red Sox through this posting system, among the contents of a video message from coach Kuriyama in a program related to the introduction of the WBC national team relay broadcast on the 26th.
Yoshida is the best outfielder in Nippon Professional Baseball with an OPS of 1.008 while playing for the Orix Buffaloes last season. His 7-year career OPS was also 0.960, and no player could match him in hitting. Yoshida signed with Boston for five years and $90 million through posting.
According to the article, coach Kuriyama said, “Yoshida thought it would be difficult to join the national team due to the changing environment.” This is because, in the first major league season, it was judged that it was common sense to spend March playing major league demonstration games in order to adapt to the new team and secure a position. Manager Kuriyama revealed that he actually formed an outfield team while excluding Yoshida.
It was only after the meeting with Yoshida that the decision was changed. Yoshida expressed his strong will to participate, saying, “WBC is my dream,” and after that, a change occurred in Kuriyama’s mind.
Manager Kuriyama said, “I got a strong impression that Yoshida was thinking not only of himself, but of Japanese baseball as a whole. He was very moved,” he said.
Former coach Kim Seong-geun, who returned to Korea at the end of last year after serving as a coaching staff at Softbank for five years, recently returned to Japan to organize his personal affairs and said, “I felt like I was going to live and die” about the atmosphere of the Japanese national team.
In fact, the WBC Japan team has more major leaguers showing their willingness to participate more than ever in the past. Coach Kuriyama said, “I am very happy that so many of the best players have gathered in the national team. So I want to win more.”