Samurai Japan’s star player Shohei Otani is forced to skip the 2017 World Baseball Classic. The 22-year-old, who played in a warm-up series against Mexico and the Netherlands last November, is nursing a right ankle injury announced by his NPB club Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters on Tuesday. Japan is facing Cuba, China and Australia during first-round play at the WBC at the Tokyo Dome.