The World Baseball Classic is more than just a tournament of nations. It’s also a showcase for the best unsigned players in the world to introduce themselves to an international audience and display their talent against top MLB players.
Yu Darvish, Aroldis Chapman, Yoenis Cespedes, Masahiro Tanaka, Yuli Gurriel and Hyun-Jin Ryu all starred in the WBC before going on to become MLB standouts. Daisuke Matsuzaka, Hisashi Iwakuma, Kenta Maeda, Kosuke Fukudome, Alexei Ramirez, Raisel Iglesias, Seung-Hwan Oh and dozens of others signed after the WBC and went onto successful MLB careers.
Here are the top 10 prospects at this year’s event who are currently unaffiliated with an MLB club. Many will make their way to MLB in the future, with some projecting to be future stars like Darvish, Cespedes or Chapman.
1. ROKI SASAKI, RHP, JAPAN
Age: 21
Sasaki became the latest Japanese pitching sensation when he threw a perfect game with 19 strikeouts last season and finished second in NPB in strikeouts as a 20-yearold. He has a fastball that sits 97-100 mph, a devastating splitter, an above-average slider and outstanding command of all his pitches. He projects to be a No. 1 starter in MLB and would be the undisputed first overall pick in this year's draft.
2. YOSHINOBU YAMAMOTO, RHP, JAPAN
Age: 24
This story is from the March 2023 edition of Baseball America.
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This story is from the March 2023 edition of Baseball America.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
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Wood Has Towering Upside- Nationals rookie James Wood also stands 6-foot-7 and also has game-changing power.
Aaron Judge and Oneil Cruz are 6-foot7 sluggers who stand out for their power in this year’s MLB Best Tools voting. Wood spent half of this season with Triple-A Rochester before making his MLB debut on July 1. While he was in the International League, he captured managers’ attention. Wood unanimously won Best Power Prospect and also claimed Most Exciting Player in a survey of league skippers. Wood hit .353/.463/.595 with 10 home runs in 52 games for Rochester. His .242 isolated slugging was the best for a player 21 or younger at Triple-A this season.
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