Korea is aiming for its fourth consecutive Asian Games gold medal. The biggest competitor is Taiwan. What kind of starting cards will Korea, which has lost to Taiwan for the second time in a row in international competitions, widen its path to gold? Also, how will we attack Taiwan’s unfamiliar starting pitchers?먹튀검증
Korea defeated Hong Kong 10-0, a cold game in the 8th inning, in the first game of the Group B league on the 1st held at the 1st Baseball Stadium of the Shaoxing Baseball-Softball Center in Shaoxing, Zhejiang, China.
After two outs in the first inning, Moon Bo-kyung’s timely hit remained the winning hit. There were concerns(?) about the 9-inning game as there were no additional points for a while, but Kim Hye-seong scored 10 runs in the 8th inning alone, recording 2 hits, 2 hits, 1 RBI, and 1 run. Starting with Won Tae-in (4th inning), Jeong Woo-young (1st inning), Choi Ji-min (1st inning), Jang Hyun-seok (1st inning), and Park Young-hyun (1st inning) continued, pitching 8 scoreless innings together.
Now, the biggest match of the group stage, against Taiwan, will be held at 7:30 PM Korean time. If you lose here, the road to gold becomes difficult.
#Coach Ryu Joong-il’s prediction
Coach Ryu Joong-il predicted that Taiwan would select a left-handed pitcher as the starting pitcher, considering the characteristics of the Korean batting lineup with many left-handed hitters. For this tournament, it was decided not to use the starting pitcher notice system through the technical committee held on September 30th. However, it is said that the day before the game, he only communicates whether he is a left-handed or right-handed pitcher.
At the end of the game on the 1st, manager Ryu Joong-il said, “I am thinking about Taiwan’s left-handed starting pitcher tomorrow. There will be a pitcher who throws the ball faster than today, so we have to prepare well.” Still, he said he had no intention of making any major changes to the Hong Kong batting order, which mainly focuses on left-handed hitters.
Taiwan’s left-handed pitchers include Lin Yu-min, a minor leaguer under Arizona, and Wang Yan-cheng, a member of Japan’s Rakuten Farm (2nd team). Both players are from the 2019 Gijang Under-18 Baseball World Cup team. Taiwan defeated the United States to win the competition at the time. Many even signed minor league contracts.
Lin Wi-Min appeared as a starter in all 38 games of his minor league career, recording 8 wins, 7 losses, and an ERA of 3.50. He has grown significantly this year, taking responsibility for 121⅓ innings. His season record is 6 wins, 5 losses, and an ERA of 3.86. Wang Yancheng recorded 3 wins, 1 loss, and an average ERA of 3.70 in 11 games in the Japanese professional baseball Eastern League (second division).
Fighting an unfamiliar pitcher is always difficult. This is the same reason that Korea only scored 3 runs through the 7th inning in the match against Hong Kong on the 1st. Hong Kong pitchers threw slow balls at a level not seen in the KBO League, and the Hong Kong coach did not give batters a chance to get used to it by only assigning 12 batters to one pitcher at most.
Korea also struggled against Taiwan, or even had a hard time with such an unfamiliar ball when they lost. Closer to home, he was beaten by sidearm starting pitcher Wu Shengfeng at the 2018 Jakarta-Palembang Asian Games. In the 2014 Incheon Asian Games, he had the experience of being blocked by left-handed pitcher Chen Guan-yu and right-handed fastball pitcher Guo Junlin.
There is a high possibility that the Korean starting pitcher will be Moon Dong-ju or Kwak Bin. This is an issue that coach Ryu Joong-il had been anticipating since his training camp at Gocheok Dome before entering Hangzhou. Both players explained that after completing their first training in Hangzhou on the 29th of last month, they are preparing their bodies according to the routine according to the starting pitch schedule assigned to them.
#7th inning big inning,
captain Kim Hye-seong recorded 3 hits and 3 RBIs in 6 at bats. When asked, “Did you struggle because of the slow velocity?” he said, “(It’s true), but that’s all an excuse. We’re fellow baseball players, so we had a hard time because we didn’t have good timing.”
In the early part of the game, some batters brought out their bats in favorable counts, especially after 3 balls, and made missed balls. It can be seen as a process of timing, but it was also pointed out by fans that it was a hasty judgment.
Kim Hye-seong explained, “Just because the ball is slow doesn’t mean you can deal with it in an unfavorable count. I think I thought I had to hit it in an advantageous count. Even if it was slow, I swung when it came to my zone, but it seems to have resulted in a bad result.”
However, Kim Hye-seong calmly said that there was no guarantee that Korea’s explosion in the batting lineup in the 7th inning would continue in the game against Taiwan on the 2nd. He pledged to do his best, saying, “Tomorrow is another game, and because it is tomorrow’s game, there will be no impact from today. I think we will have to do well again tomorrow.”
At the same time, he said, “First of all, it is a game that we must win unconditionally. It is a game that we must win somehow, even if it is by 1 point. I just think I will do my best.”
Still, it is good to see that the game ended in a cold game with 10 points scored in the 8th inning. Kim Hye-seong said, “He wanted to end with a cold game.” He also said, “There is a big difference in feelings between winning a cold game and not winning.
#It
is clear that Taiwan, with only 7 prospects in the minor league, is very wary of Taiwan. In fact, they did not achieve overwhelming results against Taiwan. Since 1998, they have recorded 19 wins and 11 losses in 30 games, with the last two games being lost. They are on a losing streak, losing 1-2 at the 2018 Jakarta-Palembang Asian Games and 0-7 at Premier 12 in 2019.
Korea won the gold medal at the 2018 Asian Games, but was in crisis from the start as they were defeated by Chinese Taipei in the group stage. Since the group stage record continues through to the super round, and the ranking match-up is decided based on this performance, it is difficult to guarantee advancement to the finals if there is even one loss.
However, Korea lost to Taiwan in the first game of the group stage. The 10-game winning streak against Taiwan ended here. At this time, ‘unemployed baseball player’ Wu Shengfeng (joint safe team), who became the winning pitcher, will also participate in this tournament.
However, despite defeating Korea, Taiwan lost to Japan in the super round and failed to advance to the finals due to being pushed out of Team Quality Balance (TQB). This year, the determination not to repeat the same mistake can be felt from the composition of the national team.
Korea imposed an age limit on its own for reasons of ‘future international competitiveness’, but Taiwan gathered players of various age groups, from Wu Sheng-feng born in 1987 to Li Hao-yu and Lin Yu-min born in 2003. Affiliations are also diverse. It consisted of 7 minor leaguers, 8 Taiwanese professionals, 2 Japanese professionals, and 7 Taiwanese professionals.
Seven of them are members of the 2019 Under-18 Baseball World Cup championship. There are many players who tried out for American baseball through this tournament. Cheon Po-wi signed a contract with Pittsburgh for $1.25 million in 2020. At the time, it was the club’s highest international contract deposit.
There are three players participating in the 2023 WBC (World Baseball Classic). Seibu infielder Wu Nian-ting, Taiwan Rakuten infielder Lin Li, and Taiwan Rakuten outfielder Lin Zhiwei are members of the WBC national team.
#Taiwan also has military service benefits
. In Korea, 19 out of 24 players have not completed military service. The same carrot awaits Taiwan as well. Kim Yun-seok, who is in charge of Korea’s Taiwan Power Analysis Institute, introduced Taiwan’s gold medal award in a column. According to him, if Taiwanese athletes win a gold medal, they can replace the four-month conscription period with 12 days of training.
The reward is a gold medal, 3 million NTD (New Taiwan Dollar), or approximately 125 million won. The silver medal was set at 1.5 million NTD (about 62.5 million won), and the bronze medal was set at 900,000 NTD (about 37.5 million won).
*It is true that Taiwan’s conscription period has been increased from the previous 4 months to 1 year from January 1 of next year, but minor leaguers will not be eligible for military service. It is said that they did not participate in the Asian Games in large numbers for benefits. Those eligible for one-year enlistment are those born after 2005. Those born between 1994 and 2004 will serve four months. The youngest player on the Taiwanese national team is a pitcher born in 2003. They are Lin Yu-min and infielder Li Hao-yu.
#1st baseball results, performances of key players of the Korean team
Japan 6-0 Philippines
China 15-0 Laos (5th inning called game)
Taiwan 12-1 Thailand (7th inning called game)
Korea 10-0 Hong Kong (8th inning cold game)
Tae-in Won, 4 innings, 8 K, no runs,
Hye-seong Kim, 3 hits in 6 at-bats, 3 RBIs,
Ji-hoon Choi, 3 hits in 5 at-bats, Dong-hee Yoon,
2 hits in 5 at-bats, 2 RBIs