{"id":240927,"date":"2026-01-16T08:08:07","date_gmt":"2026-01-16T08:08:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/240927\/"},"modified":"2026-01-16T08:08:07","modified_gmt":"2026-01-16T08:08:07","slug":"veteran-arm-tomoyuki-sugano-back-with-japan-for-world-baseball-classic","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/240927\/","title":{"rendered":"Veteran arm Tomoyuki Sugano back with Japan for World Baseball Classic"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Major league free agent veteran\u00a0Tomoyuki Sugano has returned to the fold as defending champions Japan continued to fill out their 30-man roster for the 2026 World <a href=\"https:\/\/olympics.com\/en\/sports\/baseball-softball\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Baseball<\/a>\u00a0Classic on Friday (16 February).<\/p>\n<p>Sugano, 36, pitched for the Baltimore Orioles last season, going 10-10 with a 4.64 ERA. The right-hander &#8211; a former Nippon Professional Baseball MVP with the Yomiuri Giants who was Japan&#8217;s ace before having to withdraw from the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.olympics.com\/en\/olympic-games\/tokyo-2020\" target=\"_blank\" data-tracking-payload=\"{&quot;implementation_provider&quot;:&quot;sed&quot;,&quot;content_geography&quot;:&quot;AF,AX,AL,DZ,AS,AD,AO,AI,AQ,AG,AR,AM,AW,AU,AT,AZ,BS,BH,BD,BB,BY,BE,BZ,BJ,BM,BT,BO,BQ,BA,BW,BV,BR,IO,UM,VG,VI,BN,BG,BF,BI,KH,CM,CA,CV,KY,CF,TD,CL,CN,CX,CC,CO,KM,CG,CD,CK,CR,HR,CU,CW,CY,CZ,DK,DJ,DM,DO,EC,EG,SV,GQ,ER,EE,ET,FK,FO,FJ,FI,FR,GF,PF,TF,GA,GM,GE,DE,GH,GI,GR,GL,GD,GP,GU,GT,GG,GN,GW,GY,HT,HM,VA,HN,HK,HU,IS,IN,ID,CI,IR,IQ,IE,IM,IL,IT,JM,JP,JE,JO,KZ,KE,KI,KW,KG,LA,LV,LB,LS,LR,LY,LI,LT,LU,MO,MK,MG,MW,MY,MV,ML,MT,MH,MQ,MR,MU,YT,MX,FM,MD,MC,MN,ME,MS,MA,MZ,MM,NA,NR,NP,NL,NC,NZ,NI,NE,NG,NU,NF,KP,MP,NO,OM,PK,PW,PS,PA,PG,PY,PE,PH,PN,PL,PT,PR,QA,RE,RO,RU,RW,BL,SH,KN,LC,MF,PM,VC,WS,SM,ST,SA,SN,RS,SC,SL,SG,SX,SK,SI,SB,SO,ZA,GS,KR,SS,ES,LK,SD,SR,SJ,SZ,SE,CH,SY,TW,TJ,TZ,TH,TL,TG,TK,TO,TT,TN,TR,TM,TC,TV,UG,UA,AE,GB,US,UY,UZ,VU,VE,VN,WF,EH,YE,ZM,ZW,XK&quot;,&quot;content_id&quot;:&quot;258f5855-77b2-456b-9428-bafe07242c43&quot;,&quot;content_release_date_local_utc&quot;:&quot;2026-01-16T07:11:54.436Z&quot;,&quot;content_title&quot;:&quot;Veteran arm Tomoyuki Sugano back with Japan for World Baseball Classic&quot;,&quot;tag&quot;:&quot;[\\&quot;discipline-baseball-softball\\&quot;,\\&quot;newsclip\\&quot;,\\&quot;gender-male\\&quot;,\\&quot;asia-editorial\\&quot;,\\&quot;north-america-editorial\\&quot;,\\&quot;apple-news-all\\&quot;,\\&quot;shohei-ohtani\\&quot;,\\&quot;topics-japan\\&quot;,\\&quot;noc-jp\\&quot;,\\&quot;2026-wbsc-world-baseball-classic\\&quot;]&quot;,&quot;module_type&quot;:&quot;TextBlock&quot;,&quot;module_title&quot;:&quot;Veteran arm Tomoyuki Sugano back with Japan for World Baseball Classic&quot;,&quot;section_level_1&quot;:&quot;news&quot;,&quot;section_level_2&quot;:&quot;baseball-wbc-japan-tomoyuki-sugano&quot;,&quot;discipline&quot;:&quot;discipline-baseball-softball&quot;,&quot;odf_id&quot;:&quot;BSB&quot;,&quot;module_instance&quot;:&quot;Inline&quot;,&quot;module_id&quot;:null}\" data-tracking=\"click\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Tokyo 2020 Olympic<\/a> team due to injury &#8211; is a two-time WBC selection having competed at the 2017 edition.<\/p>\n<p>Japan manager Hirokazu Ibata named 10 others on this day, including nine bats.<\/p>\n<p>They are: Kensuke Kondo, Ukyo Shuto, Taisei Makihara (Softbank Fukuoka Hawks); Seishiro Sakamoto, Teruaki Sato, Shota Morishita (Hanshin Tigers); Sosuke Genda (Saitama Seibu Lions); Kenya Wakatsuki (Orix Buffaloes); Shugo Maki (Yokohama DeNA BayStars).<\/p>\n<p>SoftBank\u2019s Yuki Matsumoto was the other pitcher added. Japan will name their full squad on 6 February, when MLB stars <a href=\"https:\/\/www.olympics.com\/en\/athletes\/yoshinobu-yamamoto\" target=\"_blank\" data-tracking-payload=\"{&quot;implementation_provider&quot;:&quot;sed&quot;,&quot;content_geography&quot;:&quot;AF,AX,AL,DZ,AS,AD,AO,AI,AQ,AG,AR,AM,AW,AU,AT,AZ,BS,BH,BD,BB,BY,BE,BZ,BJ,BM,BT,BO,BQ,BA,BW,BV,BR,IO,UM,VG,VI,BN,BG,BF,BI,KH,CM,CA,CV,KY,CF,TD,CL,CN,CX,CC,CO,KM,CG,CD,CK,CR,HR,CU,CW,CY,CZ,DK,DJ,DM,DO,EC,EG,SV,GQ,ER,EE,ET,FK,FO,FJ,FI,FR,GF,PF,TF,GA,GM,GE,DE,GH,GI,GR,GL,GD,GP,GU,GT,GG,GN,GW,GY,HT,HM,VA,HN,HK,HU,IS,IN,ID,CI,IR,IQ,IE,IM,IL,IT,JM,JP,JE,JO,KZ,KE,KI,KW,KG,LA,LV,LB,LS,LR,LY,LI,LT,LU,MO,MK,MG,MW,MY,MV,ML,MT,MH,MQ,MR,MU,YT,MX,FM,MD,MC,MN,ME,MS,MA,MZ,MM,NA,NR,NP,NL,NC,NZ,NI,NE,NG,NU,NF,KP,MP,NO,OM,PK,PW,PS,PA,PG,PY,PE,PH,PN,PL,PT,PR,QA,RE,RO,RU,RW,BL,SH,KN,LC,MF,PM,VC,WS,SM,ST,SA,SN,RS,SC,SL,SG,SX,SK,SI,SB,SO,ZA,GS,KR,SS,ES,LK,SD,SR,SJ,SZ,SE,CH,SY,TW,TJ,TZ,TH,TL,TG,TK,TO,TT,TN,TR,TM,TC,TV,UG,UA,AE,GB,US,UY,UZ,VU,VE,VN,WF,EH,YE,ZM,ZW,XK&quot;,&quot;content_id&quot;:&quot;258f5855-77b2-456b-9428-bafe07242c43&quot;,&quot;content_release_date_local_utc&quot;:&quot;2026-01-16T07:11:54.436Z&quot;,&quot;content_title&quot;:&quot;Veteran arm Tomoyuki Sugano back with Japan for World Baseball Classic&quot;,&quot;tag&quot;:&quot;[\\&quot;discipline-baseball-softball\\&quot;,\\&quot;newsclip\\&quot;,\\&quot;gender-male\\&quot;,\\&quot;asia-editorial\\&quot;,\\&quot;north-america-editorial\\&quot;,\\&quot;apple-news-all\\&quot;,\\&quot;shohei-ohtani\\&quot;,\\&quot;topics-japan\\&quot;,\\&quot;noc-jp\\&quot;,\\&quot;2026-wbsc-world-baseball-classic\\&quot;]&quot;,&quot;module_type&quot;:&quot;TextBlock&quot;,&quot;module_title&quot;:&quot;Veteran arm Tomoyuki Sugano back with Japan for World Baseball Classic&quot;,&quot;section_level_1&quot;:&quot;news&quot;,&quot;section_level_2&quot;:&quot;baseball-wbc-japan-tomoyuki-sugano&quot;,&quot;discipline&quot;:&quot;discipline-baseball-softball&quot;,&quot;odf_id&quot;:&quot;BSB&quot;,&quot;module_instance&quot;:&quot;Inline&quot;,&quot;module_id&quot;:null}\" data-tracking=\"click\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Yoshinobu Yamamoto<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.olympics.com\/en\/athletes\/munetaka-murakami\" target=\"_blank\" data-tracking-payload=\"{&quot;implementation_provider&quot;:&quot;sed&quot;,&quot;content_geography&quot;:&quot;AF,AX,AL,DZ,AS,AD,AO,AI,AQ,AG,AR,AM,AW,AU,AT,AZ,BS,BH,BD,BB,BY,BE,BZ,BJ,BM,BT,BO,BQ,BA,BW,BV,BR,IO,UM,VG,VI,BN,BG,BF,BI,KH,CM,CA,CV,KY,CF,TD,CL,CN,CX,CC,CO,KM,CG,CD,CK,CR,HR,CU,CW,CY,CZ,DK,DJ,DM,DO,EC,EG,SV,GQ,ER,EE,ET,FK,FO,FJ,FI,FR,GF,PF,TF,GA,GM,GE,DE,GH,GI,GR,GL,GD,GP,GU,GT,GG,GN,GW,GY,HT,HM,VA,HN,HK,HU,IS,IN,ID,CI,IR,IQ,IE,IM,IL,IT,JM,JP,JE,JO,KZ,KE,KI,KW,KG,LA,LV,LB,LS,LR,LY,LI,LT,LU,MO,MK,MG,MW,MY,MV,ML,MT,MH,MQ,MR,MU,YT,MX,FM,MD,MC,MN,ME,MS,MA,MZ,MM,NA,NR,NP,NL,NC,NZ,NI,NE,NG,NU,NF,KP,MP,NO,OM,PK,PW,PS,PA,PG,PY,PE,PH,PN,PL,PT,PR,QA,RE,RO,RU,RW,BL,SH,KN,LC,MF,PM,VC,WS,SM,ST,SA,SN,RS,SC,SL,SG,SX,SK,SI,SB,SO,ZA,GS,KR,SS,ES,LK,SD,SR,SJ,SZ,SE,CH,SY,TW,TJ,TZ,TH,TL,TG,TK,TO,TT,TN,TR,TM,TC,TV,UG,UA,AE,GB,US,UY,UZ,VU,VE,VN,WF,EH,YE,ZM,ZW,XK&quot;,&quot;content_id&quot;:&quot;258f5855-77b2-456b-9428-bafe07242c43&quot;,&quot;content_release_date_local_utc&quot;:&quot;2026-01-16T07:11:54.436Z&quot;,&quot;content_title&quot;:&quot;Veteran arm Tomoyuki Sugano back with Japan for World Baseball Classic&quot;,&quot;tag&quot;:&quot;[\\&quot;discipline-baseball-softball\\&quot;,\\&quot;newsclip\\&quot;,\\&quot;gender-male\\&quot;,\\&quot;asia-editorial\\&quot;,\\&quot;north-america-editorial\\&quot;,\\&quot;apple-news-all\\&quot;,\\&quot;shohei-ohtani\\&quot;,\\&quot;topics-japan\\&quot;,\\&quot;noc-jp\\&quot;,\\&quot;2026-wbsc-world-baseball-classic\\&quot;]&quot;,&quot;module_type&quot;:&quot;TextBlock&quot;,&quot;module_title&quot;:&quot;Veteran arm Tomoyuki Sugano back with Japan for World Baseball Classic&quot;,&quot;section_level_1&quot;:&quot;news&quot;,&quot;section_level_2&quot;:&quot;baseball-wbc-japan-tomoyuki-sugano&quot;,&quot;discipline&quot;:&quot;discipline-baseball-softball&quot;,&quot;odf_id&quot;:&quot;BSB&quot;,&quot;module_instance&quot;:&quot;Inline&quot;,&quot;module_id&quot;:null}\" data-tracking=\"click\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Munetaka Murakami<\/a> are expected to be included.<\/p>\n<p>Ibata had annouced his first batch of players last month, among them reigning tournament MVP\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/olympics.com\/en\/news\/baseball-shohei-ohtani-50-50-tracker\" data-tracking-payload=\"{&quot;implementation_provider&quot;:&quot;sed&quot;,&quot;content_geography&quot;:&quot;AF,AX,AL,DZ,AS,AD,AO,AI,AQ,AG,AR,AM,AW,AU,AT,AZ,BS,BH,BD,BB,BY,BE,BZ,BJ,BM,BT,BO,BQ,BA,BW,BV,BR,IO,UM,VG,VI,BN,BG,BF,BI,KH,CM,CA,CV,KY,CF,TD,CL,CN,CX,CC,CO,KM,CG,CD,CK,CR,HR,CU,CW,CY,CZ,DK,DJ,DM,DO,EC,EG,SV,GQ,ER,EE,ET,FK,FO,FJ,FI,FR,GF,PF,TF,GA,GM,GE,DE,GH,GI,GR,GL,GD,GP,GU,GT,GG,GN,GW,GY,HT,HM,VA,HN,HK,HU,IS,IN,ID,CI,IR,IQ,IE,IM,IL,IT,JM,JP,JE,JO,KZ,KE,KI,KW,KG,LA,LV,LB,LS,LR,LY,LI,LT,LU,MO,MK,MG,MW,MY,MV,ML,MT,MH,MQ,MR,MU,YT,MX,FM,MD,MC,MN,ME,MS,MA,MZ,MM,NA,NR,NP,NL,NC,NZ,NI,NE,NG,NU,NF,KP,MP,NO,OM,PK,PW,PS,PA,PG,PY,PE,PH,PN,PL,PT,PR,QA,RE,RO,RU,RW,BL,SH,KN,LC,MF,PM,VC,WS,SM,ST,SA,SN,RS,SC,SL,SG,SX,SK,SI,SB,SO,ZA,GS,KR,SS,ES,LK,SD,SR,SJ,SZ,SE,CH,SY,TW,TJ,TZ,TH,TL,TG,TK,TO,TT,TN,TR,TM,TC,TV,UG,UA,AE,GB,US,UY,UZ,VU,VE,VN,WF,EH,YE,ZM,ZW,XK&quot;,&quot;content_id&quot;:&quot;258f5855-77b2-456b-9428-bafe07242c43&quot;,&quot;content_release_date_local_utc&quot;:&quot;2026-01-16T07:11:54.436Z&quot;,&quot;content_title&quot;:&quot;Veteran arm Tomoyuki Sugano back with Japan for World Baseball Classic&quot;,&quot;tag&quot;:&quot;[\\&quot;discipline-baseball-softball\\&quot;,\\&quot;newsclip\\&quot;,\\&quot;gender-male\\&quot;,\\&quot;asia-editorial\\&quot;,\\&quot;north-america-editorial\\&quot;,\\&quot;apple-news-all\\&quot;,\\&quot;shohei-ohtani\\&quot;,\\&quot;topics-japan\\&quot;,\\&quot;noc-jp\\&quot;,\\&quot;2026-wbsc-world-baseball-classic\\&quot;]&quot;,&quot;module_type&quot;:&quot;TextBlock&quot;,&quot;module_title&quot;:&quot;Veteran arm Tomoyuki Sugano back with Japan for World Baseball Classic&quot;,&quot;section_level_1&quot;:&quot;news&quot;,&quot;section_level_2&quot;:&quot;baseball-wbc-japan-tomoyuki-sugano&quot;,&quot;discipline&quot;:&quot;discipline-baseball-softball&quot;,&quot;odf_id&quot;:&quot;BSB&quot;,&quot;module_instance&quot;:&quot;Inline&quot;,&quot;module_id&quot;:null}\" data-tracking=\"click\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Shohei Ohtani<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Major league free agent veteran\u00a0Tomoyuki Sugano has returned to the fold as defending champions Japan continued to fill&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":240928,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[85,46,105],"class_list":{"0":"post-240927","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-sports","8":"tag-il","9":"tag-israel","10":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/240927","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=240927"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/240927\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/240928"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=240927"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=240927"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=240927"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}