Steven Kwan (Cleveland Guardians), who debuted in the major leagues last year and came in third in the American League Rookie of the Year vote, expressed regret that he was not selected for the World Baseball Classic (WBC) Japan team.
Japan’s ‘Sports Hochi’ said on the 21st 먹튀검증 (Korean time), “Steven Kwan, who has a Japanese mother, was ‘pretty disappointed’ that he did not qualify for the WBC Japan team.”
Kwan is a promising player who made his debut in Cleveland last year and quickly became a starter. Kwan played in 147 games in the 2022 season, with 168 hits, 6 homers, 52 RBIs, 89 points, 19 stolen bases, a batting average of 0.298 OPS of 0.772, and based on his excellent performance, he was named third in the American League Rookie of the Year voting.
Kwan, who has a Japanese mother and a Chinese father, was initially highly likely to be selected for the WBC Japan team. This is because, in the case of the WBC, you can compete with the national team of your parents. Kwan, along with Ras Nutba (St. Louis Cardinals), was also named on the 50-man reserve list for the Japanese national team.
In the case of Nutba, who has a Japanese mother, he was eventually selected for the Japanese national team. However, Kwan’s name was nowhere to be found on the final list. What is the reason Kwan-yi couldn’t play for the Japanese national team? According to ‘Sports Hochi’, Kwan revealed the background, “It seems that the (elected) standard is for him or his parents to have Japanese passports.”
Kwan, who drew pictures of the WBC stage as a member of the Japanese national team, expressed his regret after the team failed to board.
Meanwhile, the Japanese national team was composed of the strongest power ever. In the 2021 season, American League’unanimous MVP’ Shohei Ohtani (LA Angels), Yu Darvish (San Diego Padres), Seiya Suzuki (Chicago Cubs), Masataka Yoshida (Boston Red Sox), and Nutba joined a large number of major leaguers. ‘ Yoshinobu Yamamoto (Orix Buffaloes), ‘Perfect Game’ Roki Sasaki (Chiba Lotte Marines), and ’56 Home Run’ Munetaka Murakami (Yakult Swallows) were named to the final list.