Yu Darvish on the mound in Angels ace's all-time Japanese team ft. Shohei Ohtani, Ichiro Suzuki
Los Angeles Angels pitcher Yusei Kikuchi named some generational talents on his All-time Japanese baseball team, which included Yu Darvish, Shohei Ohtani, Ichiro Suzuki, and Hideki Matsui, among others.
In a pregame interview with "Batboysbaseball," Kikuchi was asked to name his picks for each position in his All-time Japanese baseball team.
The All-Star ace named some of the greats from the land of the rising sun, who made it big in the MLB, winning multiple individual and collective honors with the team.
Yusei Kikuchi's response to the All-time Japanese baseball team:
"That's tough. The pitcher, Yu Darvish, catcher obviously [Kenji] Jojima, first baseman, I will say [Yoshi] Tsutsugo, second baseman is [Tadahito] Iguchi, and third, Munenori Kawasaki, 'monkey never cramp.'
"Shortstop is IKF, [Isiah] Kiner-Falefa, he's half Japanese. Yeah, I played with him when I was in Toronto. I like him. Leftfield Hideki Matsui, centerfield [Nori] Aoki, rightfield, obviously Ichiro [Suzuki] but DH is [Shohei] Ohtani for sure."
Take a look at the video post here, captioned as:
"You can’t go wrong with an All-Time Japan team🇯🇵 . We love how every time we ask players for their all-country team we get different answers⚾️ "
Out of Kikuchi's selection during the Q & A, Ohtani, Darvish and Isiah Kiner-Falefa are the only active players in the big leagues.
While Padres ace, Yu Darvish hasn't started a single game this season due to his long stint on the IL after he complained of inflammation on his right elbow, Kiner-Falefa has been largely used as a utility player by the Pirates. Dodgers superstar Shohei Ohtani continues to be a designated hitter for the reigning World Series winners with a pitching return expected in the coming months.
Yu Darvish's injury update; Shohei Ohtani aiming to build a positive momentum at the plate
Padres' president of baseball operations, A.J. Preller gave an encouraging news about Darvish's return timeline this season. In a media interview, he said:
"He’s had really good evals, he’s with the team on the road trip. He [Darvish] threw a bullpen in Houston and another one in Detroit. He’s starting to get some volume and he’s feeling good."
As for Yu's Japanese teammate, Shohei Ohtani, he has started the season well. The two-way phenom is just trying to build a positive mometum at the plate tol help the Dodgers string up a winning streak in a hotly-contested NL West.