The team that takes up the largest share in the list of national teams to participate in the World Baseball Classic (WBC) to be held in March is LG. LG sends a total of 6 people (Kim Hyun-soo, Oh Ji-hwan, Park Hae-min, Ko Woo-suk, Jung Woo-young, and Kim Yun-sik) to the national team this time.
There are many players who will be used as dual core members. LG coach Yeom Gyeong-yeop predicts that Kim Hyeon-soo is the team’s captain and a key hitter who will be placed in the center lineup, and Oh Ji-hwan will sometimes play as the team’s starting shortstop. Jung Woo-young and Ko Woo-seok are the core of the national team’s bullpen. Given this situation, it is worth paying close attention to the condition of the LG players.
But the national team doesn’t seem to have to worry too much. LG coach Yeom Gyeong-yeop confidently said, “You don’t have to worry about your body and condition. All of our players are ready.” v
The team bullpen pitching held on the 8th (Korean time) was a stage where you could get a glimpse of that confidence. On this day, all three pitchers included in the national team pitched in the bullpen side by side. The ball was so powerful that catcher Park Dong-won, who received the balls from Ko Woo-seok and Jung Woo-young in turn, praised, “The ball is really good.”
LG battery coach Kyung-Wan Park, who also watched the bullpen pitching, nodded and said, “Compared to ordinary pitchers, at least 10 days, about 15 days is a fast pace. But pitching won’t be a problem at all.”
Both Go Woo-seok and Jung Woo-young threw more than 20 balls vigorously when the standard for one inning was. There was no feeling of power loss after pitching. It elicited the exclamation of the catchers until the last ball, and there was also an evaluation that “I can throw a little more”. Kim Yun-shik, who will start this year, is also preparing for both the tournament and the season by quietly increasing the number of pitches. Since he is a young player who lacks experience, he may not have much know-how to prepare for the tournament, but it is evaluated that everyone was wrong.
On the 14th, the LG team players will move to Tucson, Arizona, USA, where the national team will be convened, and digest the national team schedule in earnest. Goodbye to their team for a while, but LG hopes that these players will return to their team with good results. It is because when you go out, you have to return in a good mood with good grades so that your team’s schedule will be energized.
On the one hand, the idea is to fully look after the rest of the players in preparation for the pitcher’s vacancy. LG brought 26 pitchers to this camp. LG officials explain that the scale is unprecedented. Half of them are ineligible for first-team entries. As the LG pitching staff is evaluated as the best in the KBO league across the 1st and 2nd teams, an enormous competition is expected to continue until the end of the camp in early March.