Softbank CEO Oh Sadaharu (Wang Jeong-chi), who was the first president of the World Baseball Classic (WBC), expressed his expectations for Shohei Ohtani (LA Angels), who will play an active part in the Japanese national team.
According to a report by Japanese sports newspaper Sponichi on the 26th, Chairman Oh expected Ohtani to play two roles. 스포츠토토
A total of five major leaguers, including Ohtani, will participate in the Japan national team. Chairman Oh said, “With them coming out, the Japanese players are also reassured. I think it will be a good WBC match.” He led the Japanese national team to two consecutive championships in 2006 and 2009. Japan, which has never won since then, is aiming for its first championship in 14 years.
Ohtani expressed particularly high expectations. Chairman Oh said, “If you do normal pitching, you will build a mountain of strikeouts, and as a hitter, I expect you to hit a series of home runs.” At the same time, he repeatedly expected, “I don’t know if the results will come out or not, but he makes me have that expectation.”
The media praised Ohtani for being able to use the entry for the Japanese national team thanks to his two-time pitching career. Chairman Oh also said, “There was no player like this in Japan, and it is said that it has been 100 years in the United States. He didn’t have a player who could build expectations on both sides.”
Chairman Oh wanted Ichiro Suzuki in batting and Daisuke Matsuzaka on the mound.
Recalling the first tournament, he said, “Ichiro said, ‘The United States has good players, but most of them are no different from Japanese players’, so he put the Japanese players on the ground with confidence.” At that time, Matsuzaka won 3 wins and won MVP of the tournament.
Chairman Oh also highly praised manager Hideki Kuriyama for helping Ohtani to participate. Regarding director Gurimia, “He is a person who calmly executes commands. It creates an atmosphere that makes it easy for players to immerse themselves in the game. In that respect, he is the best as the commander of this luxurious team.” “If it wasn’t for Kuriyama, I don’t know if Ohtani and Darvish Judo would have come out. In that sense, his achievements are great,” he added.