JAPAN – The defending World Baseball Classic champions from Japan will open the 2009 star-studded international baseball gala with a veteran roster that includes Major League superstars Ichiro Suzuki of the Seattle Mariners and Boston Red Sox ace Daisuke Matsuzaka.

Big names who are missing for this year’s event are Nobuhiko Matsunaka (achilles problem), Kenta Kurihara (affected by elbow surgery last year), and Toru Hosokawa (right shoulder pain). Other notable departures from manager Tatsunori Hara squad are Tsuyoshi Wada and Takayuki Kishi.

2009 World Baseball Classic Roster – Japan

CATCHERS
Kenji Johjima, Shinnosuke Abe and Yoshiyuki Ishihara.

INFIELDERS
Hiroyuki Nakajima, Yasuyuki Kataoka, Akinori Iwamura, Michiro Ogasawara, Shuichi Murata and Munenori Kawasaki.

OUTFIELDERS
Ichiro, Kosuke Fukudome, Norichika Aoki, Seiichi Uchikawa, Yoshiyuki Kamei and Atsunori Inaba.

PITCHERS
Yu Darvish, Takahiro Mahara, Masahiro Tanaka, Hideaki Wakui, Daisuke Matsuzaka, Minoru Iwata, Hisashi Iwakuma, Kyuji Fujikawa, Tetsuya Utsumi, Satoshi Komatsu, Shunsuke Watanabe, Tetsuya Yamaguchi and Toshiya Sugiuchi.

Photo courtesy of takashisfield.blogspot.com

Tags: Japan, World Baseball Classic