WORLD BASEBALL CLASSIC: POOL B - CHINA VS JAPAN

March 8, 2023

Xiang Wang

Xiao Han

Jie Cao

Tokyo Dome

Team China

Workout Day Press Conference

THE MODERATOR: Now we have three players from Team China.

Q. Question for all three players. The question will be the same. Finally, you have the opening game tomorrow. What is in your mind right now?

XIANG WANG: It's very emotional, so I'm so excited.

XIAO HAN: We are here as a challenger. Tomorrow we have a game against Japan, and it's a very big challenge for us. Be brave.

JIE CAO: We, Team China, prepared for more than three months to do work outs, practice for tomorrow's opening game. I'm so excited and excited about playing against Japan.

Q. What's the strong point of Chinese baseball? What's the strength?

XIANG WANG: Our strength is work hard and never give up.

XIAO HAN: We have a great leader, as well as the great coaches. We have a very smart mind.

JIE CAO: Thanks to the coaches, skippers, a lot of supporters will support. They are very helpful for us, so all of the players are bonding very strongly.

Q. Team Japan, you are facing against a certain pitcher, Shohei Ohtani. How do you play against Ohtani?

XIANG WANG: Yes, everybody recognize that Ohtani is a strong pitcher, but we want to be who we are.

XIAO HAN: Thinking about Ohtani, the starting pitcher, Ohtani, we are expecting and we have a scouting report and we are focusing every single pitch.

JIE CAO: Tomorrow is going to be a very wonderful opportunity to play against Ohtani. No matter how much pressures we will have, I can give all my effort for tomorrow's game.

Q. 22, you had experienced playing in Japan and you have great ambitions of playing the WBC tournament. Tell us about your personal expectation for playing the WBC.

XIAO HAN: Yes, I've been watching WBC for a long time as an audience. To me, the stage of the WBC is the greatest tournament of the baseball. And how I felt right now -- how I feel right now, I am so happy representing Team China.

Q. Question to all three players. You have the American managers. Have you changed any thought because the head coach changed to American manager? Also, the past couple weeks, you're practicing in Japan. I think that you learned a lot from Japanese baseball. What did you -- is there any changed impression of Japanese baseball?

XIAO HAN: Yes, since we have Dean arrived and being our head coach, yes, the approach of the practice, the preparation of the players, Dean taught us more detail specifically and small things, as well. And Dean also told us that -- what Dean always taught us, small things make a big difference, and the thing about Japanese baseball, they are a very tough opponent. Even sometimes when they have a tough situation, Japanese baseball is always tough. They never give up.

Q. Question to all three. I apology that I did not recognize who you are. Thinking about Ohtani, as you know, Ohtani is well-known as a two-way player. So if you are a position player, how do you think about pitcher Ohtani? And if you are a pitcher, how do you face against hitter Ohtani?

XIANG WANG: I am the pitcher, so when we faced against hitter Ohtani, I'm not for sure if I'll have the opportunity to play against him but it will be a lot of pressure. That's how I'm guessing.

XIAO HAN: The thing about Ohtani as a pitcher, he has a nasty breaking ball. So we worked out a lot about the batting drills.

Talking about offense, defense is also important. First first Ohtani is great for both ways, for pitcher and hitters. One thing I have to maintain by myself is focus on how I do. I like to be aggressive more. That's the key to face against Ohtani.

Q. The last time the international matches that Team China played were the qualifying game at 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games. What was the last -- is there any other international matches after the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Qualifying game? If you played international matches after the 2023 Tokyo Olympics, let us know, please.

XIAO HAN: Well, because of the COVID-19, we haven't played any of the international matches. Not only the international matches, we did not have that opportunity for the Chinese domestic tournament.

Last year, we had a couple internal tournaments. But we did not play that many.