Kaito Kozono and Shota Morishita are not as familiar to baseball fans outside of Japan as some of their more famous Samurai Japan teammates, like Los Angeles Dodgers star Shohei Ohtani.
The pair of 25-year-olds, however, are very familiar faces to Samurai Japan manager Hirokazu Ibata and anyone who is a fan of Japanese baseball or an avid watcher of international games.
Kozono and Morishita have been core members of Ibata’s Japan teams since his hiring in 2023, and the skipper has rewarded their efforts with spots on the nation’s star-studded roster for the upcoming World Baseball Classic.