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.