Established pitchers Daisuke Matsuzaka and Hisashi Iwakuma will lead defending champion Samurai Japan into the World Baseball Classic, but a host of young arms may end up deciding the nation’s place in the baseball world.
With 22-year-old Hokkaido Nippon Ham ace Yu Darvish leading the way, Japan manager Tatsunori Hara named five pitchers age 25 or under to the WBC roster.
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