The aftermath of being eliminated in the first round of the WBC is great. And there are various issues raised accordingly.
After winning the WBC runner-up in 2009, Korea is experiencing 먹튀검증 the bitter taste of being eliminated in the first round three times in a row following 2013 and 2017. When we lost to the Netherlands in 2013 and were eliminated, and when we lost to Israel and the Netherlands in 2017, we talked about various problems and sought solutions, saying that Korean baseball was in crisis. In the meantime, the 2015 Premier 12 first champion and 2019 runner-up showed good results, and in 2021, he also recorded a disappointing 4th place at the Tokyo Olympics. Reducing the coefficient of restitution of KBO league official balls and widening the strike zone was one of the processes to enhance the international competitiveness of Korean baseball.
This time, as the number of fans visiting the baseball field decreased due to Corona 19, rumors of a baseball crisis came out, and there were loud calls to regain popularity with good results in the WBC. Under the pressure, the players gathered and competed in the tournament, but the scenario that was intended to be a box office hit turned into a disaster as they lost the first and most important game against Australia.
Various reasons came out, and even the distance traveled was cited as a reason for dropping out. Depending on the team, the field training ground was different, and accordingly, there were players who traveled long distances. The Doosan Bears were the representative, but Yang Eui-ji, Gwak Bin, and Jeong Cheol-won recorded a total distance of 38,900 km to Japan while traveling back and forth between Australia and the United States. However, Yang Eui-ji, who had a long distance to travel, showed a good performance by hitting home runs in the matches against Australia and Japan, and Cheol-won Jeong also threw in every game to the extent that there was controversy over overuse. How should I explain this?
Since KT Wiz, coach Lee Kang-chul’s team, is located in Arizona, part of the reason is that the national team trained there. I decided to set up a camp in the evaluation. Since the tournament is held in Japan, there is an opinion that it would have been better to hold it in Fukuoka or Okinawa, but there was a practical problem that it was cold in Fukuoka and it was difficult to find a place in Okinawa.
Coach Lee said to the end, “The players did well, but I lost because I was bad,” he said, asking only himself to blame. However, a certain pitcher continued to mound here, causing controversy over overuse. When asked why a certain pitcher kept pitching, the manager should eventually tell the pitcher that it was difficult for him to pitch because he was not ready. The coach is still trying to protect the players who worked hard, but it is becoming like encouraging people around them to curse at the players.
As coach Lee led the team and failed, talk of a former coach is coming up again. Just a year and a half ago, after finishing 4th at the Tokyo Olympics, he said that being a full-time coach would be difficult, and as soon as he changed back to an active coach, he is talking about the full-time coaching system again.
If he shows his skills in this tournament and achieves such a result, he can be said to be a real crisis in Korean baseball, and he must come up with a countermeasure. We need to see what is the reason for losing to Australia, who has less skills. In the games against Australia and Japan, only a few players did the same pitching and batting we have seen in the KBO League.
In the end, it was a lack of preparation. The first thing to do is to look at the difference between a player who is 100% and a player who is not 100% in line with the competition and find a way to become 100%.