Yomiuri Giants’ ‘superstar’ and Japanese baseball’s signature shortstop Hayato Sakamoto was dropped from the national team.

The Japanese baseball team ‘Samurai Japan’ released the WBC 30-man entry on the 15th. It’s not yet confirmed, but it’s actually the final entry. However, shortstop Sakamoto’s name was omitted from the 30-man entry. Sakamoto is not only Yomiuri’s main shortstop, but also a ‘regular’ who has been consistently selected as a key member of the national team for the past 10 years. However, he will not compete in this WBC. 스포츠토토

Major Japanese sports media reported that Sakamoto’s reason for dropping out was ‘to devote himself to the middle of the season’. Sakamoto only made 83 appearances last season due to frequent injuries. It is the fewest games he has played since 2008, when he established himself as a starter. Because of this, most of the stories say that the 2023 season will be spent preparing for the season for revenge and spending time doing personal training to prevent injuries.

However, the most important content is not covered in specialized journals. Sakamoto received great criticism after it was revealed that he forced a woman in her 20s whom she had known for two years during last year’s season to have sex without contraception, and then demanded an abortion when the woman became pregnant. This is not the first time that Sakamoto has been involved in a sexual scandal. In the past, it was known that he called a woman to a hostel at the spring camp training ground and committed a violent act, and there was a history of various scandals with several women. In this situation, even the worst fact of abortion was known.

However, most major Japanese media did not even cover the related content. Last year, Sakamoto’s sex scandal was covered mainly in weekly magazines and magazines, and they were the only ones who voiced criticism. Most of the opinions were that Yomiuri, a large newspaper company, was paying attention. Of course, the public opinion of the fans was not good. Fans have been voicing criticism of Sakamoto since the scandal was revealed. However, the Yomiuri club has never mentioned the related content, and Sakamoto is also consistent in silence. There was no punishment, of course.

Most of the opinions speculate that this is why Sakamoto was dropped from the WBC entry. In particular, except for Sakamoto, the rest of the shortstop candidates for the national team are relatively weak against defense. No matter how sluggish Sakamoto was last year due to injury, he is a veteran who is bound to be greedy for the championship. Japan’s ‘Daily Creed’ reported on the 13th, “I resolved it privately with the woman in question. However, didn’t the professional baseball player, who is also an example for the children, continue to play without receiving any penalty? I think we should feel moral responsibility. There are many fans who say, “I have to fight as a representative of Japan at the WBC, but isn’t coach Hideki Kuriyama also hesitant for this reason?” On the 14th, ‘News Post Seven’ also said, “Sakamoto has had several problems with women in the past, and last year, the abortion scandal was reported. Even Yomiuri fans have many children and female fans who say, ‘I will not support anymore.’ I was worried because the opposing opinions of these fans were so great.”

Repeated failures in privacy management eventually brought about the worst results. He had tarnished his reputation as the league’s greatest star.