With Major League Baseball’s mission to spread America’s steroid-battered pastime to the international scene, the World Baseball Classic has indeed taken a strong hold overseas. Particularly in Asia, where long-time powerhouses like Japan and Korea continue to send quality players to the Major Leagues, Chinese-Taipei (Taiwan) is an up-and-coming power while China has shown tremendous improvement since their entry in the inaugural WBC tournament in 2006.

As the first Asian players to arrive (Ichiro, K. Sasaki, H. Matsui, Chan Ho Park, Hee Sop Choi, Chien Ming Wang), whom also were the very best players Asia had to offer, built their footholds in Major League Baseball, a large succession of young and successful Asian players continue to arrive each year.

Minus a third basemen, enough Asian and Asian-American players have made it to the majors that we can now build a decent – though one that won’t win any fantasy championships – baseball team.

Batters For The All-Asian Fantasy Team

Catcher: Kurt Suzuki (Oakland Athletics), one of two Asian-Americans to make the list. An up-and-coming catcher with the Oakland Athletics, Suzuki enters his third year in the Majors. Kurt works great with the A’s young pitching staff and although his power numbers (2008: 7HR 42RBI) are mainly a result of a rebuilding team, the young catcher totaled 148 hits with a .279 batting average in 2008.

First Base: Travis Ishikawa (San Francisco Giants) is currently hitting .324 in spring training. In the eyes general manager Brian Sabean, that’s enough for the rookie to become the Giants starting first basemen beating out fellow rookie Pablo Sandoval.

Along with Kurt Suzuki, Travis Ishikawa is the second Asian-American to make the team. Ishikawa was born and raised in Washington. His father is Japanese and his mother is Caucasian.

Second Base: Kazuo Matsui (Houston Astros),  from Japan, made his MLB debut in 2004 with the New York Mets. Simply known as “Kaz,” Matsui’s an all around defensive second basemen and when healthy is capable of stealing 30-40 bases a year.

Third Base: In terms of fantasy, no eligible third basemen of Asian descent are in the Majors for 2009.  :-( sad face

Shortstop: Chin-lung Hu (Los Angeles Dodgers) is the fifth Taiwanese national to make it to the Majors. Signed by the Dodgers in 2003, Hu has spent the majority of his baseball career in the Dodgers farm system. Hu makes his MLB rookie season this year backing up All-Star Rafael Furcal.

Outfield: The most prominent and skilled players on our list reside in the outfield. Of the earliest Japanese players to arrive on American shores, Ichiro Suzuki (Seattle Mariners) and Hideki Matsui (New Yok Yankees) have cemented themselves as top-notch players in the Majors. Together, the two Japanese jugarnauts combined for 10 All-Star selections. But amongst a sea of accomplishments, Ichiro stands out with the Major League single season record for hits with 262 in 2004.

South Korean native Shin-Shoo Choo (Cleveland Indians) rounds out our outfield. Choo hit for an impressive .309 batting average in 2008 with the Indians. Though his MLB career is just beginning, the South Korean government has yet to pardon Choo fromhe t 2-years mandatory army service all South-Korean males face. 

Utility: Akinori Iwamura (Tampa Bay Rays) is simply known as “Aki” on the 2009 AL Champion Rays. While his Japanese teammates call him “Gan-chan”, Iwamura enters his 3rd season in the Majors.

Bench: 2008′s hot starter and freshly imported Japanese outfielder Kosuke Fukudome (Chicago Cubs) and Taiwanese 2009 rookie infielder Yung Chi Chen (Oakland Athletics) completes the batters we have for our team.

Pitchers For The All-Asian Fantasy Team

Starting Pitcher: Daisuke Matsuzaka (Boston Red Sox) was the MVP for the Japanese national team that took home the inaugural World Baseball Classic. In fact, the Red Sox paid “Dice-K’s” former team, the Seibu Lions, $52 million just to negotiate with the young gyro-ball throwing pitcher.

Starting Pitcher: Chien-Ming Wang (New York Yankees), the ace of recent Yankees pitching staffs, joined Major League Baseball in 2005 from Taiwan. 

Combined, Wang and Matsuzaka make a solid of starting pitching duo as any.

Relief Pitcher: After injury and losing the closer spot to Dodger reliever Jonathon Broxton in 2008, Takashi Saito (Boston Red Sox) has since joined the Boston Red Sox with fellow countrymen Matsuzaka and Okajima.

Relief Pitcher: Hideki Okajima (Boston Red Sox) interestingly enough signed with the Red Sox mainly so Matsuzaka would have a friend on the team to ease the Japan-US transition. As a bonus for the Red Sox, Okajima has become a solid and feared setup man for Jonathon Papelbon.

All Purpose Pitcher: Hong-Chih Kuo (Los Angeles Dodgers), a Taiwanese reliever for the Dodger, entered the Majors as a starter. But after two poor seasons, Kuo found his niche in the Dodger bullpen in 2008 where the long reliever pitched 80 innings at a 2.14 ERA.

All Purpose Pitcher: Hiroki Kuroda (Los Angeles Dodgers) played his first season in the Majors with the Dodgers last year and posted a respectable 3.73 ERA while winning 9 games for big blue.

All Purpose Pitcher: Kenshin Kawakami (Atlanta Braves) is unofficially 2009′s hot Japanese “prospect” to watch. Kawakami will start for the Braves after 10 years of professional baseball in Japan. Kawakami throws in the low 90s and favors the cut fastball. 

Bench:  To complete our pitching rotation, we have long time Major League veteran Chan Ho Park (Philadelphia Phillies) out of South Korea, fellow Korean starting pitcher Cha Seung Baek (San Diego Padres) and reliever Jae Kuk Ryu (San Diego Padres), and finally Japanese reliever Masa Kobayashi (Cleveland Indians).