Seibu Lions’ Yamakawa Hotaka (32),스포츠토토 who is participating in the World Baseball Classic (WBC), praised Munetaka Murakami (23) of the Yakult Swallows.
Japanese media The Digest reported on the 18th, “After the first day of the Miyazaki camp, which started for the WBC, Murakami, the main gun of Samurai Japan (Japan national team), calmly looked back on his skills.”
Japan, which won the WBC championship in a row in 2006 and 2009, failed to advance to the finals in two consecutive tournaments. In this tournament, major league players such as Shohei Ohtani (Angels), Yu Darvish (San Diego), Seiya Suzuki (Cubs), Masataka Yoshida (Boston), and Lars Nuthba (St. Louis) joined the national team and challenged for the first championship in 14 years. do.
Major League players also formed the main players for the Japanese national team, but the role of Japanese professional baseball star players is also important. In particular, the role of Murakami, who achieved the triple crown in the Central League last season, and Yamakawa, who won the home run king in the Pacific League, are important in other lines. Murakami recorded a batting average of 3.18 li (155 hits in 487 at-bats) in 141 games last season, 56 homers, 134 RBIs, and an OPS of 1.168, breaking the record for the most home runs in a single season by a Japanese player. Yamakawa also batted 2.66 in 129 games Lee (119 hits in 448 bats) played an active role with 41 home runs and 90 RBIs with an OPS of .953. Both players are highly likely to enter the center lineup of the Japanese national team.
Murakami, who hit the ball over the fence 11 times in free batting from the first day of the national team camp, said, “I am conscious of hitting it in the direction of the center. However, he doesn’t seem to be in good condition yet to aim for the center and pull it. He wants to pick up the pace more.”
Murakami couldn’t hide his disappointment, but the home run king who watched him had a different idea. Yamakawa called Murakami “the most monstrous hitter” and “I didn’t look closely at Murakami. However, he praised, saying, “If you look at the distance or the sharpness of the ball, Murakami is Murakami.”
Yamakawa, who showed off his power by hitting 13 home runs himself, said, “(At the Seibu spring camp), I was anxious because I hit too many hits. I feel like I can let go of an hour. After all, I thought that I have power,” he laughed.
Korea, aiming to pass the first round for the first time in 14 years since 2009, was placed in Group B of the first round of the WBC held in Tokyo, Japan. The most difficult and worrying opponent is, of course, Japan. In order for Korea to defeat its fateful rival, Japan, it is expected that it will have to be wary of big hitters such as Murakami and Yamakawa