Molina, Yelich Among First MLB Stars On Japan Tour Team

New York, Sept 10 (APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 10th Sep, 2018 ) :Milwaukee Brewers outfielder Christian Yelich and St. Louis Cardinals catcher Yadier Molina were among the first eight players named Monday for Major League Baseball's seven-game Tour of Japan in November.

Miami Marlins manager Don Mattingly will guide the North American club squad, whose roster also includes Cincinnati Reds third baseman Eugenio Suarez and his 20-year-old Venezuelan compatriot, outfielder Ronald Acuna of the Atlanta Braves.

Others named Monday to the squad to meet the Nippon Professional Baseball lineups include Philadelphia Phillies teammates Rhys Hoskins and Carlos Santana, Kansas City Royals second baseman Whit Merrifield and Chris Taylor of the Los Angeles Dodgers.

The complete MLB roster will be named over the next few weeks.

American Yelich, 26, smashed a solo home run in the MLB All-Star Game in July, hit for the cycle against Cincinnati in August and blasted his first major league grand slam earlier this month.

Molina, 36, is a two-time World Series champion with St. Louis and twice helped Puerto Rico into the World Baseball Classic finals.

This year's event marks the 37th time a MLB squad has toured Japan for exhibition games, the first time since 2014 in a tradition that dates to 1908.

The tour begins November 8 against the Tokyo Yomiuri Giants at the Tokyo Dome with three more games in Tokyo on November 9-11, another in Hiroshima on November 13 and two games in Nagoya on November 14-15.

Major League Baseball will return to Japan next March 20-21 with a two-game Opening Series to the 2019 campaign at the Tokyo Dome between the Oakland A's and the Seattle Mariners.

It will mark the fifth time the MLB season has opened in Tokyo and the first time since 2012.