The primary goal of the baseball team participating in the World Baseball Classic (WBC) this year is ‘to the United States’. If they perform well in the second round following the first round as planned, they can advance to the semifinals for the first time in 14 years since the 2009 (twice) tournament.
In order to run the tournament smoothly, you must first pass the first round. Japan, Australia, China, Czech Republic and South Korea, which belong to Group B, need to secure second place in their group, but they have a plan to aim for victory in all other games except for Japan, which cannot be realistically guaranteed.
In particular, interest in the game against Australia is already hot. Australia is the team’s first opponent in the first round and must be beaten to advance to the second round. Coach Kang-Cheol Lee, well aware of the importance of the first game, departed on the 5th and spent 3 nights and 5 days watching the Australian Professional Baseball (ABL) game to explore Australia’s strength.
2004 Olympic silver medals are all… What kind of team is Australia?
Australia is one of the teams that consistently participates in international competitions, and has experience in the Premier 12 and the Olympics as well as the WBC. He also showed his potential at the 2004 Athens Olympics, where he won a silver medal.
But Australia’s international competition was all that was. In all of the 1st to 4th WBC competitions, he suffered the loss of elimination in the first round, and in the 2019 Premier 12, he advanced to the super round, but swallowed regret with a final score of 6th. At that time, Korea, which met Australia in the Group C qualifiers, won 5-0.
Like Korea, Australia also wants to catch the first match. However, it is expected that it will not be easy in reality. Australia had two warm-up matches against Japan in November last year, and the result was a crushing loss (1-8, 0-9) in both matches. It was a game where the difference in power was revealed.
If there is one pitcher Korea should keep an eye on in the Australian national team, it is Warwick Saupold. He has been active in the Hanwha Eagles for two years from 2019 to 2020 and is a familiar face to KBO League fans, and his KBO League career record is 59 games, 357⅓ innings, 22 wins, 24 losses, and an average ERA of 4.16. He is recording an average ERA of 4.85 with 3 wins and 2 losses in 7 games and 39 innings in Australian professional baseball this season.
When I was playing in Korea, I also remember facing hitters who are currently in the national team, such as Choi Jeong (SSG Landers), Kim Hye-seong (Kiwoom Heroes), Yang Eui-ji (Doosan Bears), and Kim Ha-seong (San Diego Padres). It is certain that Saupold’s name will be included in the final roster as he also pitched as a starting pitcher in the first game of the match against Japan.
Hendricks failed to play, Australia is an easy opponent if you are not careful. As
Australia, I hoped that Liam Hendricks (Chicago White Sox), who had 115 saves in the big leagues, would join. He has been active in the big leagues for 12 years since 2011, and last year he recorded 37 saves and is a pitcher who has been of great help to the team. 토토사이트
Just got a problem. Hendricks was diagnosed with non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma and had to focus on treatment for the time being. He sent a message through his social media on the 9th (Korean time) that he would return to his healthy form, but it is impossible for him to play for the time being. Participating in the WBC also became difficult.
In fact, as Hendricks failed to join the national team, Australia’s power seems not to be much different from what was expected. The dominant prospect for him is that players who are playing in their home league or have minor league experience will be the main players.
Korea has already figured out that Australian hitters have weaknesses such as forkballs and curveballs. It is for this reason that pitchers who throw fast balls and use breakaway balls such as Lee Yong-chan (NC Dinos) and Kim Won-joong (Lotte Giants) were included in the final list. In line with Australia’s strength, which has an overwhelming number of right-handed pitchers, left-handed hitters also made it to the roster.
Compared to the Netherlands in 2013 and Israel in 2017, which were the team that defeated Korea and their first opponents in the first round of the WBC, Australia’s power is relatively weak. It’s an opponent that can be defeated enough if you don’t be vigilant. In the match against Australia, Korea needs to have a smooth process as well as the result in order to achieve the goal it wants in this tournament.