There is often an expression of ‘useful’. It means to write the person who wrote it again, and it fits perfectly with the mound management of the Korean baseball team shown at the WBC.
The Korean baseball team ended the ‘Tokyo catastrophe’ after the final game against China in Group B of the 2023 World Baseball Classic (WBC) held at the Tokyo Dome in Tokyo, Japan on the 13th (Korean time).
Korea headed to Tokyo confidently with the goal of advancing to the semifinals. However, I ended up receiving a report card of 2 wins and 2 losses, 1st round ‘Gwangtal’. Leaving behind the success of the 2006 and 2009 WBC, he tasted the shame of being ‘excited’ in the first round three times in a row. Korean baseball, which has only been beaten in international competitions for nearly 10 years, has failed to change its perception that it is a self-praise, frog in a well, and their own sport.
If you look at this WBC calmly, all the pitchers deserved to be criticized. At the other end, despite the extreme sluggishness of the major league table setters, the KBO League hitters did their part to some extent and saved face. In particular, he poured out 22 points in the match against China, where there was no burden in the remaining games due to the confirmation of ‘Gwangtal’ in the first round. There were also quite a few home runs. It was difficult to find details that were Korea’s strengths in the past, such as strategic baseball and base running, but it was still good compared to the mound.
The mound operation was the worst ever. Maybe it was the most terrible process and result in the history of Korean baseball.
As mentioned earlier, the ‘useless’ mound management ruined the tournament itself. The composition of the players was full of question marks. There were few professional bullpen pitchers. It was full of starting pitchers. In the end, on a mound with such a deformed structure, there was no pitcher who solved the tight situation properly, nor did he ever block the situation well. That’s how it collapsed in Australia and Japan.
Coach Lee Kang-cheol, who is said to be the best in terms of mound management in Korea, also showed a lot of question marks in international competitions. Although it is not possible to grasp the exact internal situation, it was difficult to understand that players who could throw a powerful ball in a short time kept the dugout at an important moment. There might be a reason after all, but that’s the problem.
Korea used 14 pitchers in the 4 WBC games. Park Se-woong and Lee Yong-chan can be cited as the ones who did their part. Won Tae-in, Jeong Cheol-won, Kim Won-joong, etc. appeared every time there was a ‘overuse controversy’ from the practice game to the WBC final match. The power of the ball was bound to drop. Jung Woo-young, the ‘Hold King’, couldn’t even come out in one game, and Ko Woo-seok, the ‘Save King’, could not come out with symptoms.
Kim Gwang-hyeon and Yang Hyeon-jong, whom they believed in, collapsed in Japan and Australia, respectively, and Koo Chang-mo, Lee Eui-ri, Kim Yun-shik, and Gwak Bin, who were expected to, failed to show even half of their skills. All of them are starting pitchers in Korea.
After all, sport is the result theory. However, if you look at the process, you can understand why this result came out. Korea did not choose the players they needed to put in at that moment. I may not have been able to put in because I was not in good condition. If so, we should take issue with the selection of players who are not in good condition. Those who started the tragedy must be held accountable.
Where have all the best bullpen pitchers in Korea gone? 먹튀검증Why couldn’t they stand on the mound when needed? Everyone knows that in the WBC, which has a pitch limit, and in the short term, it is the bullpen pitcher that can eventually be more important than the starting pitcher. Korea forgot this.
In the end, Korea recorded a team average ERA of 7.55 in this tournament. This record came out even though the match against China ended with two runs. It’s the worst. When the match against Japan ended on 11.12, it was also the overwhelming last place in both Groups A and B.
It is not a matter of reflection. Even with the worst results, the KBO League will still keep its place as the best sport in Korea. Fall is not that easy. Nevertheless, if we are not aware of it, the present history will inevitably repeat itself.