According to Japanball.com the Japanese Baseball Federation has announced a preliminary roster for the Olympic Games in Beijing in August. There are 39 players on the list, which will be cut to a final roster of 24. The biggest name for non-insiders is pitching prospect Yu Darvish of the Nippon Ham Fighters, who already has produced a few headlines in the United States about a possible engagement in the MLB.
Japan finished never lower than fourth place in the Olympics, winning one silver and two bronze medals. They are facing Cuba in the opener. The United States, the Netherlands, Canada, Taiwan, China and South Korea also qualified for the tournament. The competition starts on August 13.
Roster:
Pitchers: Koji Uehara (Yomiuri Giants), Kenshin Kawakami, Hitoki Iwase, Kazuki Yoshimi (Chunichi Dragons), Minoru Iwata, Kyuji Fujikawa, Tomoyuki Kubota (Hanshin Tigers), Yu Darvish (Nippon Ham Fighters), Yoshihisa Naruse, Shunsuke Watanabe (Lotte Marines), Tsuyoshi Wada, Yuki Kume, Toshiya Sugiuchi (Softbank Hawks), Masahiro Tanaka, Hisashi Iwakuma (Rakuten Eagles), Hideaki Wakui (Seibu Lions)
Catchers: Shinnosuke Abe (Yomiuri Giants), Akihiro Yano (Hanshin Tigers), Ryoji Aikawa (Yokohama BayStars), Yoshiyuki Ishihara (Hiroshima Carp), Tomoya Satozaki (Lotte Marines), Toru Hosokawa (Seibu Lions)
Infielders: Michihiro Ogasawara (Yomiuri Giants), Masahiro Araki, Hirokazu Ibata (Chunichi Dragons), Takahiro Arai (Hanshin Tigers), Shuichi Murata (Yokohama BayStars), Shinya Miyamoto (Yakult Swallows), Tsuyoshi Nishioka (Lotte Marines), Munenori Kawasaki (Softbank Hawks), Hiroyuki Nakajima, Yasuyuki Kataoka (Seibu Lions)
Outfielders: Yoshinobu Takahashi (Yomiuri Giants), Kazuhiro Wada (Chunichi Dragons), Norihiro Akahoshi (Hanshin Tigers), Norichika Aoki (Yakult Swallows), Atsunori Inaba (Nippon Ham Fighters), Saburo Omura (Lotte Marines), Takahiko G.G. Sato (Seibu Lions)
