Samurai Japan manager Hideki Kuriyama represents a transition in national team leaders due to his established willingness to go beyond the orthodoxy that holds great sway over the game in Japan.
Kuriyama was hired to manage at next March's World Baseball Classic and hopefully guide Japan to its first title since winning the first two WBCs in 2006 and 2009.
His appointment represents a fusion between the national team's first trend, to rely on experienced managers, and its second, to go for new ideas from managers with little or no experience.