Munetaka Murakami, who hit a sayonara in the semifinals, is underrated — Samurai Japan: “The Surprising Pitcher the Majors Want That’s Not Akira Sasaki”.

The majors’ evaluation of Samurai Japan seems to be slightly different from that of Japan.

On March 22 (Japan time), Japan defeated the United States in the final to win back the WBC championship trophy for the first time in 14 years. The foreign media has been naming various players as “ready-to-play in the majors. Nachi Tomonari, a sportswriter with extensive knowledge of the major leagues, spoke of the following: “The most highly rated players are the pressure rollers.”

The two most highly rated players are Yoshinobu Yamamoto and Akinori Sasaki, both of whom have been impressive in their pitching. The reason why the media is interested in them is that they have fastballs around 160 km/h and pitches that fall off. Pitchers who have been successful in the majors so far, whether it is Hideo Nomo, Masahiro Tanaka, or Shohei Ohtani, have these two absolute weapons. The high fastball and the low split are the prerequisites for a pitcher to make it big in the majors.

The New York Post predicts that Yamamoto will try to make it to the majors this offseason through the posting system. As for Sasaki, the MLB’s official Web site says, “He will be a big-name pitcher in the majors in a few years. Sasaki, too, is dreaming of playing in the U.S., and the day when he pitches in the majors is probably not far off in the future.”

Why is “Murakami” underrated?

In the field, a surprisingly low rating was given to a hitter.

It was Munetaka Murakami, who hit a two-run homerun in the semifinal against Mexico and a tying homerun in the final against the United States. He is immensely popular in Japan, having won the triple crown last season with 56 home runs for Yakult, the most by a Japanese hitter, but the majors have a different view.

He has two issues: first, his defense at third base and first base is not very good, and second, despite his young age (23), he is overweight. He may have an image similar to that of Yoshitomo Tsutsugo, another left-handed hitter who has been effectively ruled out of the major leagues. Major league scouts pay lip service to Murakami, saying that he is great, but few media outlets give him credit.

On the other hand, there are some surprising names among the players who are getting better evaluations.

One of the players who is getting more recognition is a surprising name: Shota Imanaga, who started in the final against the United States. The “Sports Network” reported with surprise, “He took the starting mound ahead of Otani and Darvish. The Dodgers have already expressed interest.

The reason for their evaluation is that he is a left-handed pitcher and can throw a fastball over 150 km/h. Left-handed pitchers usually have a lower pitch speed than right-handed pitchers, and players like Imanaga are valuable in the Majors. His excellent control of the ball also contributes to his high evaluation.

The majors have a serious point of view that cannot be seen from his performance in Japan. However, there is no doubt that the players of the Samurai Japan team had a strong impact on American fans when they won the WBC.