All-Stars Perez, Longoria join Japan Tour roster
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}New York, NY (SportsNetwork.com) - All-Stars Salvador Perez of Kansas City and Evan Longoria of Tampa Bay joined the final roster for Major League Baseball's tour of Japan.
The MLB team will play a five-game series against a squad of Japanese League All-Stars, starting next week.
Perez, the catcher for the AL champion Royals, will be joined by three other members of the team's pennant winners -- pitcher Jeremy Guthrie, backup catcher Erik Kratz and shortstop Alcides Escobar.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Longoria will be the primary third baseman for the club and will be joined in the infield by Houston's Jose Altuve, Seattle's Robinson Cano, Colorado's Justin Morneau and Cleveland's Carlos Santana. Altuve, Cano and Morneau had previously been announced as team members.
Tampa Bay's Ben Zobrist and Minnesota's Eduardo Nunez will play both in the infield and the outfield, while other outfielders for the squad will be Houston's Dexter Fowler and Los Angeles Dodgers star Yasiel Puig, who was also previously selected to play in the series.
Lucas Duda of the New York Mets can also play the outfield, as well as first base. Astros designated hitter Chris Carter and Dodgers catcher Drew Butera will also make the trip.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Joining Guthrie on the pitching staff for the MLB team will be Tampa Bay's Jeff Beliveau, Washington's Jerry Blevins, Chris Capuano of the Yankees, St. Louis lefty Randy Choate, Baltimore's Tommy Hunter, Pittsburgh's Mark Melancon, Colorado's Franklin Morales, Hector Santiago and Matt Shoemaker of the Angels, Houston's Jose Veras, Milwaukee's Rob Wooten and Japanese natives Hisashi Iwakuma of Seattle and Tsuyoshi Wada of the Cubs.
Three players previously named to the squad won't participate, as Washington's Bryce Harper, Baltimore's Adam Jones and the Angels' Albert Pujols all opted out of the series.
Boston's John Farrell will be the manager for the team, replacing Ron Washington, who had initially been selected as the skipper in August before resigning as manager of the Texas Rangers in September.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}It will mark the 11th All-Star series and the 36th time overall that a team of Major League Baseball players will tour Japan for games. The current five-game format was adopted in 2006, the last time a group of MLB stars squared off against a team of Japan All-Stars. The MLB team went 5-0 eight years ago.
The opening game will take place in Osaka on Nov. 12 before heading to Tokyo for three games on the weekend of Nov. 14-16. The final game of the series will be in Sapporo on Nov. 18.
Two exhibition games will bookend the series -- the first on Nov. 11 and the last on Nov. 20.