Cleveland Guardians Stephen Kwan (26) regretted not being qualified for the World Baseball Classic (WBC) Japan team.
Japanese media Sponichi Annex said on the 20th, “Kwan, an outfielder with a Japanese mother, announced that she was not qualified to participate in the WBC Japan team to be held in March.”
Kwan is an outfielder who debuted in the major leagues last year. After making his big league debut, he never missed a single swing in his first 117 pitches, and in 147 games he batted 2.9 8 Lee (168-for-563) with 6 homers, 52 RBIs, 89 runs scored and 19 stolen bases for a .772 OPS. and finished the debut season successfully. After the season, he finished third in the American League Rookie of the Year voting and won the Outfielder Gold Glove.
Kwan, who has a Japanese mother, was expected to participate in the WBC as a member of the Japanese national team. He was even named on the national team interest list, but ultimately did not make it into the final entry. Japan selected Ras Nutba (St. Louis), whose mother is Japanese like Kwan, for the national team.
Sponichi Annex said, “According to the coverage of Nichibei, an American media outlet, Kwan was judged ineligible to participate in the 메이저놀이터 Japanese national team by the Major League Secretariat. To qualify for the national team, you or one of your parents must be born in Japan. Kwan’s maternal grandparents immigrated to the US state of California from Yamagata Prefecture, Japan after World War II, and his mother was born in the United States. As for his paternal grandparents, he is of Chinese descent, but he did not qualify for the Chinese national team either.”
During the last season, Kwan received a love call from the Japanese national team, raising expectations for joining the national team. Sponichi Annex said, “Kwan was invited to participate in the national team by Shohei Ohtani (Angels) in September of last year, and he readily accepted. After that, he kept in touch with the interpreter and was included in the 50 interest list for the Japanese national team.” Kwan also couldn’t hide his regret, saying, “I’m really disappointed.”
Although Kwan’s joining of the Japanese national team was unsuccessful, major league players such as Ohtani, Yu Darvish (San Diego), Seiya Suzuki (Cubs), Masataka Yoshida (Boston), and Nutba participated in the national team and formed the best roster. In the WBC, it is organized in Group B to be held in Tokyo, Japan, and competes with Korea, Australia, China and the Czech Republic to advance to the quarterfinals.