The World Baseball Classic (WBC) national team will start a great journey starting with the game against Australia on the 9th.

South Korea is in Group B along with Japan, Australia, China and the Czech Republic, so all group matches will be held at the Tokyo Dome in Japan. In addition, the quarter-final Asian round, which is held after passing the group stage스포츠토토, will also be held at the Tokyo Dome.

Tokyo Dome is one of the most batter-friendly stadiums in Japan. It is not small at 100m left and right and 122m in the center, but it is similar to Samsung Lions Park in a diamond-shaped shape. In addition, due to the structure, the air pressure must be kept high, which artificially creates an updraft. According to NPB STAT, the home run park factor of Tokyo Dome in the 2022 season was 106.9, the third highest in Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB).

In preparation for this, most of the national team’s pitching staff consisted of grounder pitchers. 10 out of 15 pitchers caught ground balls out more than fly balls out, and out of pitchers who played more than 50 innings, a total of 5 pitchers Jung Woo-young, Go Young-pyo, Park Se-woong, So-jun So, and Kim Yun-sik ranked 10th in the ratio of ground balls to fly balls out (GO/FO). it’s cramped Most batted balls are likely to be ground balls.

The problem is that Tokyo Dome is an artificial turf stadium. Depending on the length of the grass, the quality of the shot is completely different. At Kyocera Dome, where the national team played an evaluation match, the length of the artificial turf is short and the batting speed is fast. This is the reason the infield made three errors in the evaluation game against the Orix Buffaloes. Conversely, Tokyo Dome has a relatively long grass length and a slower hitting speed.

Behind the national team pitchers, the best keystone duo of Kim Ha-seong and Tommy Hyeon-soo Edman is holding out. Tommy Hyeonsu Edman is the 2021 National League second baseman Gold Glove winner, and Kim Ha-seong is also recognized for his defensive power enough to be nominated for the 2022 National League shortstop Gold Glove. Choi Jeong and Park Byeong-ho also boast excellent defense, and Choi Jeong-eun, in particular, showed a good defense several times in the evaluation match against the Hanshin Tigers.

As many ground balls are expected, adaptation to artificial turf is essential. The national team stepped on the Tokyo Dome ground in official training on the 8th. I hope the national team can advance to the semifinals with the strength of defense.