Reporter Han Nam-jik = The Korean baseball team takes a very advantageous position to advance to the quarterfinals by defeating Australia in the first round of the 2023 World Baseball Classic (WBC) 1st round Group B.
As much as that, Lee Kang-cheol (kt wiz), the national team coach, was wary of Australia’s power.
However, most of the threatening names were omitted from the Australian national team’s final entry (30 players), which was released on the 10th (Korean time).
Outfielder Aaron Whitefield (Los Angeles Angels) is the only player included in the 40-man roster of the American professional baseball major league in the Australian national team.
Minor leaguers include infielder Robbie Glendining (Kansas City Royals), catcher Alex Hall (Milwaukee Brewers), pitcher Kyle Glogowski (Cincinnati Reds), Will Sheriff (Arizona Diamondbacks), Blake Townsend (Seattle Mariners), and Jake Olochlin (Seattle Mariners). Detroit Tigers), there are six players, but except for Glendining, who hit 19 home runs in Double-A last year, they are players with no history worth mentioning.
The departure of Chicago White Sox closer Liam Hendricks, who was diagnosed with non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, a type of blood cancer, was predicted early on.
Infielder Curtis Meade, a prospect for the Tampa Bay Rays, and Alex Wells (free agent) and Lewis Thorpe (Minnesota Twins), left-handed pitchers who travel between the big leagues and Triple A, also failed to join the WBC team.
MLB.com commented, “This Australian team cannot be called ‘the greatest ever’.”
Australia’s main pitcher is Warwick Saupold (Perth, Australia), who stood on the mound in the major leagues for the Detroit Tigers and played for the Hanwha Eagles in the KBO League in 2019 and 2020.
MLB.com also picked Whitefield and Saupold as key players in the Australian national team.
Saupold posted a 22-24 record with a 4.16 ERA in 59 appearances over two seasons in the KBO League. In the 2022-2023 Australian League, he stagnated with 3 wins and 2 losses with an ERA of 5.56.
In the first round, Korea will face Australia (9th), Japan (10th), Czech Republic (12th) and China (13th) in turn.
The top 2 in the group advances to the quarterfinals.
If you look at the composition of Group B, if you beat Australia, it is likely to advance to the quarterfinals.
Australia’s power is not strong, but carelessness is prohibited.
Coach Lee Kang-chul also said, “Aside from Supold, there are several good pitchers who can throw fastballs at 150km/h. Australia is also likely to use all of its key pitchers in the Korean game aiming for second place in the group.” said. 바카라사이트
The Chinese national team, which is classified as a ‘periphery’ in baseball, includes pitcher Ju Kwon (kt wiz) who plays in the KBO League and outfielder Masago Yusuke, who belonged to the Softbank Hawks of the Japanese professional baseball until last year, who played as a player in Lee University, Cleveland, USA, and played with the Angels and amateurs. Pitcher Alan Jean Carter, who signed a free agent contract, was included.
The other player is from the Chinese league. In the aftermath of the novel coronavirus infection (Corona 19), the Chinese league has not been held recently, and the players in the Chinese league have also lost their performance.
Eric Sogad, a veteran infielder who spent 11 years in the major leagues, joined the Czech national team. Of the 30 Czech players, he is the only one with big league experience.
Sogard played 815 games in the majors, posting a batting average of 0.246, 26 homers, and 187 RBIs.
Most Czech players do not play baseball. Czech ace Martin Schneider also works as a firefighter.