World Baseball Classic (WBC) Japan representative young guns Yamamoto Yoshinabu (Orix, 25) and Sasaki Loki (Chiba Lotte, 22) are already focused on winning. Early on, I visited the venue where the WBC semifinals and finals would be held.

Japanese media ‘Sports Hochi’ reported on the 26th that ‘Yamamoto and Sasaki, who will participate in the WBC in March, visited Londipor Park in Miami, USA, where the semi-finals and finals will be held.’

The media explained that Yamamoto and Sasaki visited Londippo Park in Miami in December of last year as part of filming the Japanese version of the OTT service ‘Amazon Prime’.

The media reported that ‘Yamamoto and Sasaki played the role of pitcher and catcher on the ground and had a light fight.’ In this program, Yamamoto said, “It is a different slope from the Tokyo Dome mound. It seems a bit high,” said Sasaki, “There is no sense of incongruity with the slope. It feels like Jojo Marine Stadium,” he said.

Masato Yoshii, pitching coach of the WBC Japan national team (coach of Chiba Lotte) recently hinted that he would use Yu Darvish (San Diego) and Shohei Ohtani (LA Angels) first, saying that the first round and the quarterfinals are important to advance to the US final round. “I want the world to see what Yamamoto and Sasaki throw. I think it would be okay for the two players to throw in the final round in the United States,” he said, revealing his plan to prepare two young guns for the final round. 

Already inside Japan, there is an atmosphere that the quarterfinals are natural, the semifinals are basic, and the final goal is to win. I am coming up with a plan that suits him, but I hope that Yamamoto and Sasaki will splendidly decorate the finale.

Last year, Yamamoto recorded 15 wins, 5 losses, 1.68 ERA, 205 strikeouts, and .750 win rate in 26 games and 193 innings last year. He pitched six complete games, including a no-hitter in the regular season, and won the Pacific League and Japan Series championship titles at the same time. In addition, the number of wins and average ERA. He recorded first place in the strikeout and win rate categories, making an unprecedented history of winning 4 crowns for 2 consecutive years. The Sawamura Award was also awarded for two consecutive years.  스포츠토토

Sasaki pitched 129⅓ innings over 20 games last season, pitching 9-4 with a 2.02 ERA. On April 10 last year, he became the youngest (20 years, 5 months) in Japanese professional baseball to achieve a perfect game, and in the process set a phenomenal milestone of striking out 19 in one game and striking out 13 batters in a row.

The eyes of the two representatives of Japan, Young-Gun, are already looking towards the final round and dreaming of pitching in the final round.