Now that spring camps are only a few days away for NPB teams — some players are already working out "independently" together — the foreign contingent has begun trickling into the country. It was mostly the first-year foreign players the past couple of weeks, but now the veterans have started showing up.
For some, the return to Japan will be brief. The 2017 World Baseball Classic will cause a shakeup in a number of NPB camps, and it won't only be Japanese players headed off to play for their country.
Some recently arriving foreign stars will be headed right back to the airport in a couple of weeks to join their respective national teams ahead of the fourth edition of the WBC. The tournament begins March 7, with the semifinals and final scheduled for March 20-22 in Los Angeles.