WBC roster breakdown: Japan

March 1, 9:43 AMMLB ExaminerAlex Brown

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AP Photo/Shizuo Kambayashi

Japan, led by legendary manager Sadaharu Oh, won the first ever World Baseball Classic in 2006.  Their team, while not littered with MLB stars, displayed excellent fundamental play and prevailed over teams with more major league talent.  A few of the Japanese players even made the jump to MLB after their success in the 2006 WBC.  Can they repeat?  Here’s a look at their roster for 2009:

• Pitchers: Yu Darvish, Kyuji Fujikawa, Hisashi Iwakuma, Minoru Iwata, Satoshi Komatsu, Takahiro Mahara, Daisuke Matsuzaka, Toshiya Sugiuchi, Masahiro Tanaka, Tetsuya Utsumi, Hideaki Wakui, Shunsuke Watanabe, Tetsuya Yamaguchi

Yu Darvish and Daisuke Matsuzaka lead this group of pitchers.  Matsuzaka shined in the 2006 WBC, and parlayed that success into a jump to the big leagues with the Boston Red Sox where he has continued to improve against MLB hitters.  Darvish might be the next Dice-K, and by some accounts he has the talent to succeed across the Pacific.

• Catchers: Shinnosuke Abe, Yoshiyuki Ishihara, Kenji Johjima

Johjima has had success in the majors as well after coming over to join the Seattle Mariners.  He has fallen off a bit but is still has a lot of talent and probably works very well with the Japanese pitching staff.

• Infielders: Akinori Iwamura, Yasuyuki Kataoka, Munenori Kawasaki, Shuichi Murata, Hiroyuki Nakajima, Michihiro Ogasawara

Iwamura is the only big leaguer among the Japanese infielders – he was the starting second baseman for the AL champion Tampa Bay Rays in 2008.

• Outfielders: Norichika Aoki, Kosuke Fukudomre, Atsunori Inaba, Yoshiyuki Kamei, Ichiro Suzuki, Seiichi Uchikawa

Ichiro and Kosuke Fukudome are two of the most successful outfielders in Japanese baseball history, and they alone can make this a strong group. 

Notable Absences: Akinori Otsuka, Koji Uehara, Yasuhiko Yabuta

It will be interesting to see how Japan performs in the 2009 WBC.  Pitcher Koji Uehara was a big contributor, throwing 17 innings and earning two wins in 2006.  The team would also be stronger with Hideki Okajima, Hideki Matsui, Hiroki Kuroda, and Kazuo Matsui on the roster, but they seem to succeed by playing as a team and doing the little things well, rather than with star power.