Samurai Japan skipper Hiroki Kokubo announced his 28-man final squad for next month¡¯s WSBC Premier 12 on Friday.
As expected, Kokubo selected nationwide stars like Kenta Maeda, Shohei Otani, Sho Nakata, Tetsuto Yamada and Yuki Yanagita as his team¡¯s core players. Kokubo also added fresh faces, including 19-year-old left-handed closer Yuki Matsui of the Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles and Yokohama BayStars rookie reliever Yasuaki Yamasaki.
Takeya Nakamura, the Seibu Lions¡¯ six-time Pacific League home run king, was chosen to play. He had been plagued by various injuries, leading to doubts that he¡¯d be picked.
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