The rosters for this summer's All-Star Series were fleshed out on Monday as Central League manager Tatsunori Hara and Pacific League skipper Hideki Kuriyama named 33 players between them on Monday for the three-game series starting on July 19.
"No matter what, I want to win the All-Star games. I have to make sure to think about ensuring players don't get hurt," said Hokkaido Nippon Ham Fighters manager Kuriyama at Tokyo Dome prior to a game against the Fukuoka Softbank Hawks. "The Pacific League has a lot of great players, and I want everyone to know who they are."
Each manager added 11 pitchers to those picked by the players and fans. Hara, the Yomiuri Giants skipper, named eight starting pitchers, including four rookie right-handers: The Hanshin Tigers' Shintaro Fujinami, the Tokyo Yakult Swallows' Yasuhiro Ogawa, whose eight wins leads the CL, the Yokohama BayStars' Kazuki Mishima and Hara's nephew from the Giants, Tomoyuki Sugano.