Baseball Federation of Japan announces 12U&16U National Team Rosters

12U Baseball World Championship will be played from July 8 to 17 in Taipei City, Chinese Taipei – 16U Baseball World Championship is scheduled for August 19 to 28 in Lagos de Moreno, Mexico.

Friday, July 01, 2011

12U National Team

18 players have been selected from 153 member teams of the JAPAN BOYS LEAGUE FEDERATION throughout Japan. 2 training Camps were held in Osaka from June 14th to 15th and June 23rd to 24th which included games against Junior High School Teams.

Ace pitcher, Yoshimine Jotaro throws 120 km/h fast balls, while Matsumoto Daisuke, captain of the team, hit an over 90m home-run at a game against a Junior High School Team. The 12U Team is arriving in Taipei on July 6 for the inaugural IBAF 12U Baseball World Championship from July 9 to 17th.

16U National Team

20 players have been selected from 1,400 teams of 7 Youth Federations of JUNIOR　HIGH SCHOOLS (13 to 15 Years old) and therefore all the players are under 15 years old.

Head Coach Katori Yoshitaka (pictured), former NPB Pitcher at Tokyo Yomiuri Giants and Coach for the Japanese National Team at the World Baseball Classic in 2006 says “Our goal is to get a medal again, which we haven’t seen since 1991. I have chosen players with versatile ability, for example, a pitcher who can play any other positions and strong batters who can also run fast.” The team will conduct two training camps on July 14th to 15th and August 14th to 16th, before they set off to Mexico on August 17th.

Both 12U and 16U National Teams have been chosen from the affiliates of Japan Amateur Baseball Association which is a constituent of the Baseball Federation of Japan and helped funding of the teams’ participation in the Championship.