It has been officially announced today that Los Angeles Dodgers starting pitcher Kenta Maeda, 28 years of age, won’t be pitching for Samurai Japan this March for the upcoming World Baseball Classic… Maeda was the ace pitcher for Team Japan in the 2013 edition of the World Baseball Classic, but even though he won’t be participating in the tournament, he said that he will support his fellow countrymen from afar in reclaiming their 3rd World Baseball Classic title.

Los Angeles Dodgers manager, Dave Roberts, stated in an interview last year that he has his full support if Kenta Maeda wanted to pitch for his country, but Maeda cites injury/fatigue, that would eventually result to failure, as his main reason for not participating in the upcoming event.

Samurai Japan still has at least til before the end of January to wait on their Major league players, so far, Houston Astros outfielder, Norichika Aoki, is currently their lone MLB player in their roster… New York Yankees starting pitcher Masahiro Tanaka stated that he wants to pitch for Samurai Japan this World Baseball Classic, but the Yankees organization also seemed reluctant to allow their ace pitcher to participate.

The Japanese right-hander Kenta Maeda finished his 2016 rookie season with the Dodgers posting a record of 16-11, and an earned run average of 3.48 in 32 games played (175.2 innings pitched) last year, as a starting pitcher.