World Baseball Classic players representing 10 different countries have been named to an All-WBC team, with Japan and Puerto Rico leading the way with nine representatives each. All-time WBC individual leaders in various statistical categories through the end of the 2017 tournament, excluding qualifier games. Batting Pitching The winning team of each World Baseball Classic is rewarded a large silver trophy as its primary recognition. The two trophies earned by Japan during the inaugural and second classics have been on display at the Japanese Baseball Hall of Fame. In addition to the standard rules of baseball, the World Baseball Classic employs the following
American expatriate baseball players in Japan the foreign culture, the language barrier, and loneliness, differences in the way the game is played in Japan are often challenges for American players. Japanese teams practice much more often than American teams, the game relies more on off-speed pitching and not as many fastballs, and team harmony is stressed over individual achievements. The American writer Robert Whiting wrote in his 1977 book "The Chrysanthemum and the Bat" that, While others have objected to characterizing the sport that way, many Japanese players and managers describe themselves in these terms. Perhaps because of these cultural differences, many expatriate baseball players don't