Inaba reveals Japan’s top team roster for Mexico friendlies in March

TOKYO — Atsunori Inaba, manager of the world No. 1 Samurai Japan National Baseball Team since 2017, announced the 28 players he has selected to play against No. 6 Mexico in two WBSC-sanctioned games at Osaka’s Kyocera Dome on 9-10 March.

Japan’s roster includes 11 players who will be making their debuts on the nation’s top team.

At a press conference in Tokyo, Inaba said: “This is the final opportunity before the Tokyo [2020] Olympics to test players whom we haven’t seen before. The approach was to form a team looking ahead to the Premier12, which is a pre-fight for 2020. We are going for speed and power.”