CHIBA – Despite some of its members having just completed a long season, Japan’s men’s national baseball team donned their Samurai Japan uniforms and took the field with a lot of energy for their first practice ahead of this week’s four-game exhibition series against Mexico and the Netherlands.
Samurai Japan will take on Mexico on Thursday and Friday and then face the Dutch on Saturday and Sunday, all at Tokyo Dome.
“I feel tense to be playing on the Japanese team,” Tokyo Yakult Swallows star Tetsuto Yamada said after Samurai Japan’s first practice at QVC Marine Field on Sunday. “I’d like to have some fun and enjoy the moment.”
The Swallows failed to advance to the postseason, so it’s been a while for the reigning Central League MVP to face live pitching. Yamada, however, said he was “swinging the bat well” and was “in good shape.”
Though Japan skipper Hiroki Kokubo called up a number of younger players, in order to test them before next spring’s World Baseball Classic, the squad is full of elite talent from NPB clubs. That makes the batting order and pitching rotations two of the more intriguing things to watch during the upcoming four games.
Yamada, who usually hits in the No. 3 hole for Yakult and had a .304 batting average, 38 homers and 102 RBIs this season, is clearly one of the best hitters in Japan, but said he doesn’t “have any particular request” about his spot in the lineup.
“I’ll just hit in the spot I’m given,” said the 24-year-old second baseman, who is likely to spend some time at third base as he shares a defensive position with three-time reigning Golden Glove winner Ryosuke Kikuchi, of the Hiroshima Carp.
As for the team’s cleanup hitter, Kokubo said it would be either the Hokkaido Nippon Ham Fighters’ Sho Nakata or Yokohama BayStars slugger Yoshitomo Tsutsugo.
But both Nakata and Tsutsugo humbly said that they’d hit wherever they were asked to in the order.
“On this team, I don’t have enough ability to hit at the cleanup spot,” said Nakata, who racked up a .250 average, 25 homers and 110 RBIs to lead the Fighters to the Japan Series championship over Hiroshima late last month. “I’m going to focus on setting the table for other players. Or, who knows, I could even sacrifice myself (by bunting). I’d like to prepare myself for any situation.”
Tsutsugo said: “We have so many great players on this team, and I’m not sticking to the cleanup spot. I’m only sticking to hitting hard and if it goes over the fence, that’s great.”
Shohei Otani, Nakata’s teammate with the Fighters, drew the most attention from reporters during the practice. The pitcher/hitter is going be used exclusively as a hitter during the series and had a good showing during his batting practice session on Sunday.
Yet, like his some of his teammates such as Yamada and Nakata, the 22-year-old insisted he’d be fine anywhere in the batting lineup.
“With these members around me, I don’t have the capability to hit there,” Otani said when asked if he’d want to hit in the Nos. 3, 4 or 5 spots.
Otani is taking the exhibition series seriously since it’s part of the buildup to the fourth edition of the WBC. Japan, which won the first two tournaments, will be trying to recapture the title.
“This is the biggest tournament for the national team,” said Otani, who’s expected to __play both as a pitcher and hitter in the WBC. “Hopefully, we keep winning and capture the world championship. That’s the goal for baseball players.”
Kokubo hinted that he might use Otani, who hit. 322 with 22 homers in 2016 (he went 10-4 with a 1.86 ERA as a pitcher), as a pinch hitter during this series with the WBC in mind.
Meanwhile, Kokubo said that while he was undecided about his batting order for the upcoming games, at least he’s set with his starting pitchers.
Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks right-hander Shota Takeda will take the mound in the first game, and the Carp’s Yusuke Nomura, Chiba Lotte Marines’ Ayumu Ishikawa and BayStars’ Kenta Ishida will start in the remainder of the series in that order.
There are no pitch limits in the series, but Kokubo said that he’d prepare “second starting pitchers” to relieve the starters, as would be the case during the WBC, where a pitch limit will be applied.
“Each starting pitcher will probably pitch for three to four innings,” Kokubo said. “And the five relievers we have could go every day.”
Samurai Japan, which came together for the first time since exhibitions against Taiwan in Japan in March, will practice at the same ballpark on Monday and Tuesday. It will have an official practice at Tokyo Dome on Wednesday.
Mexico and the Netherlands are scheduled to arrive in Japan on Monday.
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