(Story by Marco Stoovelaar; Photo by Henk Seppen)
      Seven Dutch players on roster Team Europe for Global Games
Nederlands
 PULLY (Switzerland) -
On Wednesday (February 14), the World Baseball Softball Confederation (WBSC) announced the rosters for Team Europe and Team Samurai Japan for the upcoming Global Baseball Games, a series of two games that will be played on March 6 and 7 in Osaka (Japan).
Both teams have a roster of 28 players, many of whom participated in last years World Baseball Classic.
The coaching-staffs of both teams were announced earlier.
The games will be played in the Kyocera Dome, the home of Oryx Buffaloes, which plays in Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB), the highest professional league in Japan.
In Japan, the series is called Samurai Japan Series.
The last time that Samurai Japan played a series against Europe was in March 2015.
Back then, the series was called Global Baseball Match and was played in the Tokyo Dome.
Japan won the first game 4-3, then Europe won the next day with a 6-2 score.
Last year, there were two Samurai Series.
Japan then played against NPB-teams.
The last time that the National Professional Team of Japan played an international Samurai Japan Series was in 2022.
Back then, Samurai Japan played against Chinese Taipei (in March in Tokyo) and Australia (in November in Sapporo).
In earlier Series, Samurai Japan faced Australia (March 2018 in Nagoya/Osaka), Chinese Taipei> (November 2018 in Fukuoka), Mexico (March 2019 in Osaka) and Canada (October/November 2019 in Okinawa).
The Samurai Japan Team also played international series against Chinese Taipei (Challenge Game, March 2016 in Nagoya/Osaka), Mexico and the Netherlands (Warm-Up Games, November 2016 in Tokyo) and Chinese Taipei (Send-Off Games, February/March 2017 in Fukuoka).
In the upcoming Samuari Series, the Netherlands will be represented by seven players, being pitchers Tom de Blok, Lars Huijer, Kevin Kelly and Franklin Van Gurp, infielders Juremi Profar and Sharlon Schoop and utility player Delano Selassa.
Spain, which captured the European title last year, has eight players on the roster of (Italian) Manager Marco Mazzieri, who was named on November 20.
From Italy, six players are chosen for the team.
Czechia and Germany have respectively four and three players in Team Europe.
Mazzieri's coaching-staff was announced on December 5.
Amongst the players on the European roster are three who have played in the Major League, pitcher Rhiner Cruz (Spain), third baseman Alex Liddi (Italy) and outfielder Engel Beltré (Spain).
37-year old Dominican-born Rhiner Cruz pitched in 74 Major League-games (all a reliever) for Houston Astros (2012-2013) and Toronto Blue Jays (2018).
In 2014-2015, the righthander played for Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles in the NPB.
Cruz also played in the professional league in Mexico.
In 2021, he pitched in four games for Nettuno in Italy.
35-year old Alex Liddi played in 61 Major League-games for Seattle Mariners in 2011-2013.
During the 2011 season, Liddi was a teammate of Dutch outfielder Greg Halman, who unfortunately passed away in November of that year.
Liddi collected 36 basehits, including six homeruns.
In 2019, the Italian infielder played in the professional league in Taiwan for Chinatrust Brothers.
Like Cruz, Liddi also played in Mexico, including last year.
34-year old Engel Beltré was also born in the Dominican Republic.
He played in 22 Major League-games for Texas Rangers during the 2013 season.
Beltré also played in Mexico.
Earlier this month, the outfielder signed with Piratas de Campeche in the Liga Mexicana de Béisbol.
In 2021, Beltré played in eight games for Nettuno in Italy.
Also on the European roster is Wander Encarnación, who was named Most Valuable Player of last years European Championship.
23 of the 28 players have played professionally.
24 of the 28 players on the roster of Samurai Japan play professionally in the NPB.
The other four play for universities.
Six of the Samurai Japan players participated in the 2020 Olympic Games, which were held in Tokyo and were moved to 2021, due the measures back then during the coronavirus-pandemic (COVID-19).
With Japan, they captured the Gold Medal, winning 2-0 against the USA in the Final.
These six players are pitchers Ryoji Kuribayashi, Masato Morishita and Kaima Taira, infielders Sosuke Genda and Munetaka Murakami and outfielder Kensuke Kondoh.
The roster of Team Europe looks as follows:
Pitchers (14):
Daniel Álvarez, Fernando Baez, Rhiner Cruz (all Spain), Tom de Blok, Lars Hujer, Kevin Kelly, Franklyn Van Gurp (all Netherlands), Matteo Bocchi, Tiago Da Silva, Luis Lugo (all Italy), Martin Schneider (Czechia), Sven Schueller, Marcus Solbach and Dalton Von Schamann (all Germany).
Catchers (3):
Martin Červenka (Czechia), Gabriel Lino (Spain) and Alberto Mineo (Italy).
Infielders (7):
Wander Encanación, Edison Valerio (both Spain), Alex Liddi, Ricardo Paolini (both Italy), Martin Mužík (Cechia); Juremi Profar and Sharlon Schoop (both Netherlands).
Outfielders (3):
Engel Beltré, Daniel Jimenez (both Spain) and Marek Chlup (Czechia).
Utility Player (1):
Delano Selassa (Netherlands).
Coaching-staff:
Marco Mazzieri (Manager, Italy), Sidney de Jong (Bench Coach, Netherlands), Pavel Chadim (1B Coach, Czechia), Steve Janssen (3B Coach, Belgium), Evert-Jan 't Hoen (Infield Coach, Netherlands), Alessandro Maestri (Pitching Coach, Italy), Aritz Garcia (Bullpen Coach, Spain) and Luis Camargo (Assistant Coach, Italy).
The roster of Team Samurai Japan looks as follows:
Pitchers (12):
Yumeto Kanemaru (Kansai University), Ryoji Kuribayashi (Hiroshima Toyo Carp), Shinya Matsuyama (Chunichi Dragons), Hiroya Miyagi, Shunpeita Yamashita (both ORIX Buffaloes), Masato Morishita (Hiroshima Toyo Carp), Yuto Nakamura (Aichi Institute of Technology), Haruka Nemoto (Nippon Ham Fighters), Chihiro Sumida (Seibu Lions), Kaima Taira (Seibu Lions), Atsuki Taneichi (Chiba Lotte Marines) and Shota Watanabe (Rakuten Golden Eagles).
Catchers (3):
Yuto Koga (Seibu Lions), Shogo Sakakura (Hiroshima Toyo Carp) and Yudai Yamamoto (Yokohama DeNA Baystars).
Infielders (7):
Sosuke Genda (Seibu Lions), Takaya Ishikawa (Chunichi Dragons), Kaito Kozono (Hiroshima Toyo Carp), Kotaro Kurebayashi (Orix Buffaloes), Rui Muneyama (Meiji University), Munetaka Murakami (Tokyo Yakult Swallows) and Takumu Nakano (Hanshin Tigers).
Outfielders (6):
Kensuke Kondoh (Fukuoka Softbank Hawks), Chusei Mannami (Nippon Ham Fighters), Shota Morishita (Hanshin Tigers), Misho Nishikawa (Aoyama Gakuin University), Yasutaka Shiomi (Tokyo Yakult Swallows) and Shunsuke Tamura (Hiroshima Toyo Carp).
Coaching-staff:
Hirokazu Ibata (Manager), Yoshiyuki Kamei, Makoto Kaneko, Yoshinori Murata, Eishin Soyogi and Kazuki Yoshimi.
(February 14)
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