Japan national baseball team

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Japan national baseball team
Country	Japan
Federation	Baseball Federation of Japan
Confederation	Baseball Federation of Asia
Olympics
Appearances	3 (First in 1992)
Best result	2nd (1996)
World Baseball Classic
Appearances	1 (First in 2006)
Best result	1 (2006)

Japanese team huddles around their manager after losing to Cuba in the 2006 Intercontinental Cup

The Japan national baseball team is the national baseball team of Japan. It has participated in every Summer Olympic Games since the first demonstration tournament in 1984. Until 2000, the team was made up exclusively of amateur players. Starting with the 2000 Summer Olympics, the team has been comprised of players from Nippon Professional Baseball. The team playing in the 2006 World Baseball Classic also includes Japanese players from Major League Baseball. In the Classic, the team played in Pool A and placed second, advancing to round two. They went on to win the Classic. They would be playing in the Beijing Olympics in 2008, as they had quailifed on the Asian Baseball Championship in 2007, unlike the roster of WBC, it was exclusively formed by NPB players (but included one amateur player, who was drafted during the tournament's progress).

According to the 77-man candidate list for the Beijing Olympics roster, which all players come from different teams in the NPB, they would not choose any MLB player in the selection progress, since the final roster must be chosen among the players in the list.

[edit] 2006 World Baseball Classic roster

Manager

• 89 Sadaharu Oh - Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks manager (王貞治)

Coaches

• 84 Kazuhiro Takeda - former Yomiuri Giants pitching coach (武田一浩)
• 85 Hatsuhiko Tsuji - former Yokohama BayStars coach (辻発彦)
• 86 Yoshitaka Katori - former Yomiuri Giants pitching coach (鹿取義隆)
• 87 Yasunori Oshima - former Nippon Ham Fighters manager (大島康徳)
• 88 Sumio Hirota - former Yomiuri Giants coach (弘田澄男)

Pitchers（Win-Loss-Save・Earned Run Average・Strikeouts )

• 11 Naoyuki Shimizu - P Chiba Lotte Marines (清水直行) （0-0-1・4.15・6)
• 12 Soichi Fujita - P Chiba Lotte Marines (藤田宗一) (0-0-0・9.00・1)
• 15 Tomoyuki Kubota - P Hanshin Tigers (久保田智之) (none)
• 18 Daisuke Matsuzaka - P Seibu Lions (松坂大輔) (3-0-0・1.38・10)
• 19 Koji Uehara - P Yomiuri Giants (上原浩治) (2-0-0・1.59・16)
• 20 Yasuhiko Yabuta - P Chiba Lotte Marines (薮田安彦) (0-0-0・2.08・5)
• 21 Tsuyoshi Wada - P Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks (和田毅) (0-0-0・0.00・1)
• 24 Kyuji Fujikawa - P Hanshin Tigers (藤川球児) (0-1-0・0.00・3)
• 31 Shunsuke Watanabe- P Chiba Lotte Marines (渡辺俊介) (0-0-0・1.98・6)
• 40 Akinori Otsuka - P Texas Rangers (大塚晶則) (0-0-1・1.59・8)
• 41 Hiroyuki Kobayashi - P Chiba Lotte Marines (小林宏之) (0-0-0・18.00・3)
• 47 Toshiya Sugiuchi - P Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks (杉内俊哉) (0-1-0・5.40・2)
• 61 Hirotoshi Ishii - P Tokyo Yakult Swallows (石井弘寿) (0-1-0・27.00・1)
• 61 Takahiro Mahara - P Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks (馬原孝浩) (none)

Catchers（Avg・Home runs・RB・SB）

• 22 Tomoya Satozaki - C Chiba Lotte Marines (里崎智也) (.409・1・5・0)
• 27 Motonobu Tanishige - C Chunichi Dragons (谷繁元信) (.000・0・0・0)
• 59 Ryoji Aikawa - C Yokohama BayStars (相川亮二) (.500・0・0・0)

Infielders（Avg・Home runs・RB・SB）

•  1 Akinori Iwamura - 3B Tokyo Yakult Swallows (岩村明憲) (.389・0・3・2)
•  2 Michihiro Ogasawara - 3B Hokkaido Nippon Ham Fighters (小笠原道大) (.231・0・7・0)
•  4 Nobuhiko Matsunaka - 1B Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks (松中信彦) (.433・0・2・0)
•  7 Tsuyoshi Nishioka - 2B Chiba Lotte Marines (西岡剛) (.355・2・8・4)
•  8 Toshiaki Imae - 3B Chiba Lotte Marines (今江敏晃) (.200・0・4・0)
• 10 Shinya Miyamoto - 2B, SS Tokyo Yakult Swallows (宮本慎也) (.667・0・2・0)
• 25 Takahiro Arai - 1B, 3B Hiroshima Toyo Carp (新井貴浩) (.333・0・0・0)
• 52 Munenori Kawasaki - SS Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks (川崎宗則) (.259・1・5・2)

Outfielders（Avg・Home runs・RB・SB）

•  5 Kazuhiro Wada - OF Seibu Lions (和田一浩) (.000・0・0・0)
•  6 Hitoshi Tamura - OF Yokohama BayStars (多村仁) (.259・3・9・0)
•  9 Tatsuhiko Kinjoh - OF Yokohama BayStars (金城龍彦) (.200・0・0・0)
• 17 Kosuke Fukudome - OF Chunichi Dragons (福留孝介) (.182・2・6・0)
• 23 Norichika Aoki - OF Tokyo Yakult Swallows (青木宣親) （.200・0・1・0)
• 51 Ichiro Suzuki - OF Seattle Mariners (イチロー) （.364・1・5・5)

[edit] World Baseball Classic record

Wikinews has related news:

Japan wins World Baseball Classic, 10-6

• 2006 - Champions

[edit] Olympic record

• 1984 - Finished in 1st place (demonstration sport)
• 1988 - Finished in 2nd place (demonstration sport)
• 1992 - Bronze medal winner
• 1996 - Silver medal winner
• 2000 - Finished in 4th place
• 2004 - Bronze medal winner

[edit] External links

• World Baseball Classic Roster for Japan