TOKYO - Here is Japan's 30-man roster for the 2023 World Baseball Classic, running from March 8 to March 21. Samurai Japan will host Pool B at Tokyo Dome, where Australia, China, the Czech Republic and South Korea will also compete for two quarterfinal berths.
The Asian quarterfinals will pit the top teams from Tokyo and Pool A in Taiwan, against the second-place team from the other pool, with the winners advancing to the semifinals in Miami.
Japan is the tournament's only four-time semifinalist, having won the first two editions in 2006 and 2009 before falling in the semifinals in 2013 and 2017.
Manager Hideki Kuriyama has said he wants a team that will win while showing Japan's style of baseball in its best light. That ideal combines a focus on pitching and defense and the ability to scratch out one run whenever needed.
His pitching staff is loaded with strikeout artists, most of whom throw a quality split-fingered fastball, while the mostly left-handed-hitting position players bring a tantalizing mix of blazing speed, exceptional defense, plate discipline and power.
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