A match between Korea and Japan, which started in Group B, is highly likely to be held as the starting pitcher for Japan, Hiroto Takahashi (Chunichi Dragons), who spent this year’s career-high season, will take the mound.
Samurai Japan (the name of the Japanese national team) will hold its last warm-up match with the Czech national team ahead of the 2024 World Baseball Softball Confederation (WBSC) Premier 12 at the Banterin Dome in Nagoya, Aichi Prefecture, Japan from the 9th to the 10th.
Considering the recent international competitions, the Japanese national team is relatively weak. Japan has also started a “generational change” since last year. Notably, with Roki Sasaki (Chiba Lotte) and Mune-taka Murakami (Yakurt) failing to join the national team, the number of injured was also on the rise. Four Japanese players, including Kazuma Okamoto, Naoki Yoshikawa (Yomiuri), Hiromi Ito and Chusei Manami (Nihonham), were absent from the Japanese national team on June 26.
Okamoto was a former “home run king” player who was likely to take on the fourth position of the Japanese national team, including last year’s 안전놀이터 World Baseball Classic (WBC), Hiromi Ito was a pitcher who was nominated for the “Sawamura Award” with 14 wins this year, Manami’s father, who flew high against Ryu Joong-il in the Asian Professional Baseball Championship (APBC) last year, was a mixed-race player from Congo, and Yoshikawa was the 0th backup in the infield.
The Japanese national team, which had four of its main players leave at the same time, started an emergency blood transfusion. Japan has added Haruto Inoue, Itsuki Murabayashi, Masayuki Kuwahara (DNA), and Kotaro Kiyomiya (Nihonham) as substitutes. Inoue has won eight games and had a 2.76 ERA, and Kuwabara has acquired two golden gloves this year, while Kiyomiya is dubbed the “Kang Baekho of Japan,” but she has less weight compared to players who have been sidelined due to injury and other reasons.
However, the team got off to a flying start. The Japanese team played seven innings in a friendly match with the Hiroshima Toyo Carp in Miyazaki and won 5-0. The team will hold the last two warm-up matches with the Czech Republic from May 9 to May 10, play the first Group B match with Australia at the Banterin Dome on May 13, and then move to Taiwan for a later schedule.
Despite the absence of a large number of key players, Japan is a strong favorite for the Premier 12. Ryu Joong-il also remained vigilant, saying, “The pitchers are good,” after the replacement of players for the Japanese national team. Then, who will be the Japanese pitcher that will take the mound in the match between Korea and Japan that is destined to happen? For now, chances are very high that Hiroto Takahashi will take the mound as the starting pitcher in an exhibition match against the Czech Republic on September 9. Considering that Japan will not have a game on April 14 due to its move to Taiwan, he can take a five-day rest before taking the mound against Korea and Japan.
Takahashi can be seen as the “Ace” of the Japanese national team amid Sasaki’s failure to join the national team and Ito’s absence. Takahashi started his professional career in the first round of the 2020 rookie draft after being nominated by the Chunichi Dragons, and is a pitcher who can play two-seam, splitter, cutter, slider and curve based on a fastball of up to 158 kilometers, and stood out in 19 games in his first season with a 6-7 record and an ERA of 2.47 before immediately joining the World Baseball Classic (WBC) team in 2023 to win the title.
Takahashi pitched in three games (three innings) as a bullpen pitcher in the WBC, and allowed five strikeouts and one run (one earned run), marking 7 wins and 11 losses and 2.53 ERA in 25 games last year, and 12 wins and four losses and 1.38 ERA in 21 games this year. His 1.38 ERA ranks first in Japan in both Pacific and Central games. Moreover, Takahashi ranks fourth in multiple wins in the Central League, third in strikeouts (130), fifth in quality starts (18 innings), and third in WHIP (0.98 ERA).
Although it is not currently being reported, the prevailing view in the Japanese media is that Takahashi will start against Korea. If Takahashi takes the mound against Korea and Japan as expected, it will not be easy to target the mound.
