KBO League’s top finishing pitchers Ko Woo-seok (25, LG Twins), Lee Yong-chan (34, NC Dinos), and Kim Won-joong (30, Lotte Giants) will play an active role as strong locks in the 5th World Baseball Classic (WBC) national baseball team. attention is focused
The national team led by coach Lee Kang-cheol has a total of 15 pitchers. Among them, there are 10 players who play as starting pitchers for each team, including Kim Gwang-hyun (SSG Landers) and Yang Hyeon-jong (KIA Tigers). Coach Lee intends to share positions with the bullpen to trust and appoint in the selection and competition depending on their physical condition, and the expectations placed on the performance of the other five players are also clear. As professional bullpen pitchers, they have experienced many crises and failures. In particular, the experience accumulated by these three professional closers, Ko Woo-seok, Lee Yong-chan, and Kim Won-joong, is a much needed element in the national team.메이저놀이터
Pitch restrictions apply in this tournament. The maximum number of pitches by a pitcher per game is limited to 65 in the first round, 80 in the quarterfinals, and 95 in the semifinals and finals. However, if you throw more than 50, you need to take a break for 4 days, and if you throw 30 to 49 or 2 consecutive days, you need to take a break for 1 day. When the double header is held, it is impossible to pitch two games a day. While attention is focused on what kind of operation coach Lee and pitching coach Jung Hyun-wook will come up with, the role of these three people, who are accustomed to short and strong pitches with a small number of pitches, is even more important.
Ko Woo-seok, Lee Yong-chan, and Kim Won-joong are pitchers who have what Lee needs. Ko Woo-seok, who is considered one of the key pitchers of the national team, is the type to intimidate opponents with a fastball of over 150km per hour. He pitched in relief in 61 games last year, going 4-2 with 42 saves, an earned run average (ERA) of 1.48, and an on-base allowed per inning (WHIP) of 0.96.
Lee Yong-chan and Kim Won-joong are pitchers with a forkball that drops down after drawing a trajectory similar to a fastball. In the first round and quarterfinals held at the dome stadium, coach Lee selected these two players because he judged that it would be possible to advance to the US round (semifinals and finals), which is the first goal, only when there are many players who are good at judo.
The key is how much he will improve his condition until the first match of the first round (group B) against Australia, which will be held at the Tokyo Dome on the 9th. These three players showed good condition in four practice games with KBO League teams played in Tucson, Arizona, USA. Go Woo-seok, who took the mound in the last inning of each practice game, Lee Yong-chan and Kim Won-joong, who mainly pitched in the 7th and 8th innings, all played scoreless counterattacks.
The national team will have a practice game against SSG Landers Futures (2nd team) at Gocheok Dome on the 3rd and then move to Japan for the final match. Coach Lee said, “The practice game on this day (3rd) is focused on the final check of the pitching part. We will decide on this day who and how many will be on standby for the first game (against Australia).”