Major League Baseball is once again headed to Japan for an All-Star Series that begins on Nov. 12. The rosters for that team -- with Red Sox manager John Farrell at the helm -- are not necessarily what you think of when you hear the words “All-Star”, but hey, Yasiel Puig is there. That’ll do.
MLB announces Japan All-Star Series roster
Yasiel Puig in Japan, everybody. It’s happening.
Jeff Gross
Puig, Mariners’ second baseman Robinson Cano, Japanese native Hisashi Iwakuma, Jose Altuve, Evan Longoria, and Carlos Santana are the highlights on the roster. And Salvador Perez is there, too, because catching 146 regular-season games and then 15 playoff games wasn’t enough for one year. All of the games will be on MLB Network exclusively at 6 p.m. Well, 6 p.m. local time -- if you want to catch major-league players in action live, you’re going to have to be awake at 4 a.m. ET to do it.
They’ll play five games between Nov. 12-18, and that’s basically the last gasp of the 2014 season. The winter meetings pick up a couple of weeks after that, and then this year is officially done with and 2015 is that much closer.
Here’s the full roster, which goes to 29 instead of 25:
The 29-man roster consists of 14 pitchers, three catchers, seven infielders, three outfielders and two infielders/outfielders. The pitching staff includes (alphabetically) Jeff Beliveau (TB); Jerry Blevins (WSH); 2006 All-Star Chris Capuano (NYY); Randy Choate (STL); Jeremy Guthrie (KC); Tommy Hunter (BAL); Tokyo native and 2013 All-Star Hisashi Iwakuma (SEA); 2013 All-Star Mark Melancon (PIT); Franklin Morales (COL); Hector Santiago (LAA); Matt Shoemaker (LAA); Jose Veras (HOU); Aichi native Tsuyoshi Wada (CHI); and Rob Wooten (MIL).
The three catchers are Drew Butera (LAD), Erik Kratz (KC) and two-time All-Star Salvador Perez (KC), while the position players consist of 2014 AL Batting Champion and two-time All-Star Jose Altuve (HOU); six-time All-Star Robinson Cano (SEA); Chris Carter (HOU); Lucas Duda (NYM); Alcides Escobar (KC); Dexter Fowler (HOU); three-time All-Star Evan Longoria (TB); 2014 NL Batting Champion and four-time All-Star Justin Morneau (COL); Eduardo Nunez (MIN); 2014 All-Star Yasiel Puig (LAD); Carlos Santana (CLE); and two-time All-Star Ben Zobrist (TB).
See More:
