Shohei Ohtani (29, Los Angeles Angels), the center of the 2023 World Baseball Classic (WBC) Japan team, does not hide his expectations, saying, “I am well aware of the long history of the Korea-Japan match.” did not
On the 17th (Korean time), Ohtani attended a press conference for the Angels’ spring camp in the US Professional Baseball Major League (MLB) held at Diablo Stadium in Tempe, Arizona, USA, and expressed his feelings ahead of the WBC Korea-Japan match.
“I’ve seen many matches between Korea and Japan,” he said. “Korea is a good team and I think we’ll have a good match.”
“The WBC Korean national team has changed a lot from the last time we played against it (2015 Premier 12),” he said. , but (this time) you don’t know what will happen,” he said cautiously.
Ohtani, who is both a hitter and a pitcher, is a superstar who rewrote MLB history.
He decided to join the WBC Japan national team early on, and is expected to play as the core of Japan’s pitching from the first round of the finals.
The possibility of participating as a pitcher and hitter in the game against Korea, which is virtually the first round of the finals, cannot be ruled out.
It is not the first time that the Korean baseball team has faced Ohtani, the pitcher.
In the semifinals of the 2015 Premier12, Ohtani, who started the Japanese national team, contributed 11 strikeouts in 7 innings and was silent with one hit and no score.
In the official opening game of the tournament, the national team also gave up only 2 hits and 2 walks in 6 innings against Ohtani, striking out 10.
Ohtani, who showed a scary 바카라aspect at the age of 21 at the time, developed into a more terrifying player after advancing to the MLB.
In the 2022 MLB season, he went 15-9 with an ERA of 2.33 as a pitcher and a batting average of 0.273 as a hitter, with 34 homers and 95 RBIs.
Ohtani expressed confidence in his current physical condition, saying, “It is much better than last year.”
In addition, he said, “WBC is a tournament I’ve seen since elementary school, and it’s a stage I’ve always wanted to participate in.”
On the 16th, the first day of spring camp, Ohtani improved his condition by throwing 37 balls from the bullpen.
The day was devoted to conditioning training with his fellow players.
Ohtani trains at his team’s spring camp and is set to join the Japanese national team ahead of the tournament’s opening.
On the 10th of next month, at the Tokyo Dome in Japan, Korea will have an irresistible confrontation with Japan, with Ohtani at the forefront.