“Many people say, ‘Isn’t it because you threw it too much?’. We were chosen to do that.”
Park Se-woong (28, Lotte Giants) expressed his thoughts on the overuse controversy during the 2023 World Baseball Classic (WBC) competition.
Park Se-woong joined the WBC team in early March and threw a lot of balls. From before the official evaluation to the tournament, he went back and forth between the selection and the bullpen and played an active role. He had a lot of pitches due to his frequent appearances. He threw 61 balls in 3 games for a week from before evaluation with Orix on the 6th to Czech Republic on the 12th.
When certain players often appeared, the so-called ‘overuse controversy’ came to mind. Park Se-woong was one of those candidates. Reporters asked Park Se-woong about his overall WBC impressions, and he opened up about the controversy towards himself.
Park Se-woong said, “Many people asked, ‘Isn’t it too much to throw?’, ‘Is it not too much to take a day off (after starting the bullpen) and then start right away?’ “I have a lot of thoughts that I did what I had to do. In that regard, I think being selected as a national representative is the position I was chosen to do.”
During the tournament, Park Se-woong appeared in two games and showed strong pitching with 1 hit, 4 walks and 9 strikeouts in 6 innings. He recorded the most outstanding performance among the pitchers of the national team, raising expectations for the new season. He said, “I have achieved results in big tournaments, and I think I have a certainty about my ball and a calculation of how to throw the ball as a starter against the Czech Republic. In that respect, I have improved.”
Park Se-woong returned to his team,토토사이트 Lotte, ahead of an exhibition game against the LG Twins on the 18th. From his first day, he threw 50 balls with all his might from the bullpen, raising expectations for the new season. Lotte coach Larry Sutton also praised Park Se-woong, saying, “Park Se-woong pitched in the bullpen today (18th). He was sharp and the ball was heavy.”
Park Se-woong said, “I threw at 100%. I thought today (18th) was also a pitching day according to the game schedule, and I threw a lot of balls as part of it.” I have thoughts that I want to establish through the game,” he said, revealing the main focus for the remaining period.