The goal of the Korean baseball team ‘Lee Kang-cheol-ho’, which will participate in the World Baseball Classic (WBC) to be held in March this year, is clear.
It is noteworthy that the KBO League intensively selected ‘grounders’ who are good at judoing ground balls.
On the 4th, Lee Kang-cheol, coach of the Korean national baseball team, announced the final 30 entries for the WBC and said, “Most of the pitchers are ground ball induction types. They were matched against Australia, the first game.”메이저사이트
Pitchers are largely divided into ground ball pitchers and fly ball pitchers, depending on the batting results of the opposing batter.
Grounder pitchers who are good at grounder judo have the advantage of suppressing long hits, and have the advantage of being able to aim for double hits when runners are out.
Conversely, fly ball pitchers have a lower probability of hitting a hit than ground ball pitchers, and generally tend to have a higher strikeout rate.
It is difficult to say which one is the best pitcher, but Lee Kang-cheol, whose primary goal is to pass the first round in 14 years since the 2009 WBC, focused on selecting grounder pitchers.
This is because of the biggest advantage of a grounder pitcher, ‘suppression of long hits’.
The Korean baseball team ended the tournament in 4th place at the Tokyo Olympics two years ago and ended up with no medals.메이저사이트
The players returned home with their heads bowed like criminals, and voices of concern about the crisis of Korean baseball erupted everywhere.
In particular, the match against the Dominican Republic for the bronze medal was abandoned because of a long shot.
Korea was hit with two home runs from the first inning, and in the eighth inning, which had been leading 6-5, allowed a two-run home run again and lost 6-10.
International competitions where strangers meet are characterized by not scoring a lot.
In this case, a single home run is a fatal blow.
Lee Kang-cheol-ho concluded that grounder pitchers are needed in the WBC through a thorough power analysis, and filled the majority of the 15 pitchers with grounders.
Last season, the average ground ball to fly ball ratio in the KBO League was 1.02.
Although he had a bit of a ground ball, he maintained a nearly 1-to-1 ratio throughout the league.
However, the ratio of ground balls to floating balls in the 2022 season for pitchers on board Lee Kang-cheol is 1.23.
Compared to the league average, about 21% of them were selected as players who are good at inducing ground balls.
Ko Young-pyo (kt wiz), who had the highest ground ball to fly ball ratio among pitchers who filled the required innings last year, had 1.86, followed by Park Se-woong (Lotte Giants) with 1.76.
Bullpen pitcher Jung Woo-young has 100 ground ball outs and 22 fly ball outs, resulting in a ground ball to fly ball ratio of 4.55.
The background of the selection of players who boarded the national team for the first time, such as Kim Yun-sik (LG, 1.48) and Kim Won-joong (Lotte, 1.39), can also be found in the ground ball to fly ball ratio.
Conversely, it is not difficult to infer why the so-called “floating ball pitchers” such as Kim Jae-yoon (kt 0.55) and Kim Jae-woong (Kiwoom Heroes 0.6), who were active as the league’s top bullpen pitchers, suffered high deaths.
As the saying goes, ‘Even if the marble is standing, it is a treasure to be threaded’.
The reason why Lee Kang-cheol-ho was able to gather grounder pitchers with confidence was thanks to the infield, one of the best among the national team. 메이저사이트
In particular, the Keystone combination formed by shortstop Kim Ha-seong (San Diego Padres) and second baseman Tommy Edman (St. Louis Cardinals) boasts the best defense among all participating countries.
Edmon is the winner of the 2022 season in the Gold Glove second baseman category, which selects the best defender in MLB, and Ha-seong Kim was the first Asian shortstop to be nominated for the Gold Glove final last year. 메이저사이트
In addition, the hot corner guarded by first baseman Choi Ji-man (Pittsburgh Pirates), who is known for his stable catch in MLB, and Choi Jeong (SSG Landers), who represents the KBO, is also strong.
However, in order to catch a team that is ahead of us in terms of objective power, there is a limit to being a grounder pitcher.
After the quarterfinals, starting pitchers who press down with strong power are needed.
With Ahn Woo-jin (Kiwoom Heroes), the best pitcher in the league last season, joining the team, right-hander Kwak Bin (Doosan Bears), whom coach Lee called “the best in the league for fastballs,” and left-hander Lee Eui-ri (KIA Tigers), who competed in the Tokyo Olympics, are expected to join the team. expected to get a chance.
Kwak Bin’s ground ball to fly ball ratio is 0.7, the lowest among the 15 players in the national team, and Lee Eui-ri’s 0.8 is right next to Kwak Bin.