Beware of Kim Gwang-hyun and Ko Young-pyo.
The Japanese media picked Kim Gwang-hyun and Ko Young-pyo as the people of interest among the Korean national team to play the first round against Japan in the WBC tournament on March 10th.
‘Sports Nippon’ pointed out Group B Korea as Japan’s biggest rival and was wary of the two players. Kim Gwang-hyeon evaluated that he had troubled Japan at the 2008 Beijing Olympics, and returned to the KBO League after going through the major leagues, winning 13 victories last year.
In addition, underhand Young-Pyo Koh먹튀검증, who started as a starting pitcher in the semi-finals of the 2021 Tokyo Olympics, was also cited as a target to be wary of. However, Koh Young-pyo throws a tricky ball, but is more likely to pitch in other matches, such as Australia, than against Japan.
In addition, shortstop Kim Ha-seong, San Diego teammate of Darvish Yu, and Tommy Edman (St. Louis), teammate of Lars Nutba, also participated, and left power hitter Choi Ji-man (Pittsburgh) was absent, but they remained vigilant, saying that a fierce match was expected against Korea.
In particular, it was predicted that Shohei Ohtani (LA Angels) would start in the quarterfinals and the important game against Korea. Not only Ohtani, but also Darvish are likely to start.
The newspaper predicted that Australia would struggle with the absence of 2021 save king Liam Hendricks. Hendricks, who recorded 115 saves in his career, was recently diagnosed with blood cancer and started treatment.
Along with China, the Czech Republic is a weak team, but Eric Sogard, an infielder who hit a home run against Masahiru Tanaka in his Yankees days, will participate. /