With the World Baseball Classic acting as a showcase in front of major league scouts, Team Japan has obviously been one of the countries attracting attention from the men with stop watches and speed guns in the stands.
In the first two rounds held in Fukuoka and Tokyo, there were quite a few scouts occupying the seats behind the plate, perhaps more than in the previous two tournaments.
Among the notable Japanese players, it appears that Masahiro Tanaka and Kenta Maeda are the two names that those scouts have penciled in their notepads with thicker letters.