The Japan Baseball Organization (NPB) promotes early joining of major leaguers while paying insurance premiums.
According to Japanese media such as Chunichi Sports on the 24th, NPB Secretary General Atsushi Iwara said, “If major leaguers such as Shohei Otani (LA Angels) and Yu Darvish (San Diego Padres) participate in the WBC Samurai Japan training camp, NPB will pay the corresponding insurance premium. They said they are pushing to pay.”
Hosted by the MLB Secretariat, the WBC actively encourages participation even by MLB players’ unions. For this reason, not only the United States but also major major leaguers from most countries participate. However, group training before the start of the competition is separate. Most clubs want to be selected for each national team after participating in their team’s spring camp until early March. San Diego, the team that Ha-seong Kim and Darvish belong to, has already announced that team camps must be held by early March.
However, NPB communicated its intention to pay the necessary insurance premiums on the NPB side if major leaguers join earlier than this, since the period in which the MLB secretariat is insured against unexpected events is from March 6th. It means that he will join the team as soon as possible, even if he has to pay, to match his breath with his teammates in Japan, and to check his condition himself. The Japanese baseball team plans to set up a camp in Miyazaki right before the opening of the WBC to enhance the sense of actual play. With the atmosphere so far, there is a high possibility that major leaguers such as Ohtani and Darvish will not be able to join the Miyazaki camp and will enter Tokyo directly.
In a press interview, Secretary General Iwara said, “The insurance amount is paid by NPB 100%. I am still waiting for an estimate from the insurance company. I received an answer from the MLB Secretariat that I will contact you as soon as the amount comes out. The amount of insurance money will be different for each player.” “It would be better to join sooner to manage the condition of the players,” he said.
스포츠토토 However, even if NPB pays the insurance money, it is unclear whether the major league club will make the final OK. Clubs also have to prepare for the start of the regular season, so if they don’t allow it, joining early is close to impossible.