The Korean baseball team, which built the strongest keystone combination ever, had a large number of ‘grounder pitchers’ in the first watershed in the World Baseball Classic (WBC) semifinal match against Australia put in and try to win

When announcing the WBC final entry on the 4th, national team coach Lee Kang-cheol said, “Most of the pitchers are ground ball judo type. It was tailored to the first match against Australia,” he said.

Pitchers are largely divided into ‘ground ball pitchers’ and ‘floating ball pitchers’ according to the batting results of the opponent batter. Pitchers who are good at judoing ground balls are less likely to hit long hits, and can aim for double hits in situations where there are runners. On the other hand, pitchers who induce a lot of fly balls have a relatively low hit rate and a high strikeout rate. I can’t say which one is better, but Lee Kang-cheol-ho focused on selecting grounder pitchers.

This seems to be due to the ‘learning effect’. Korea allowed a lot of long hits at the Tokyo Olympics two years ago and ended up winning no medals. In particular, in the bronze medal match against the Dominican Republic, Korea was hit with two home runs from the first inning, and allowed a two-run home run in the eighth inning to lead 6-5, eventually losing 6-10.

Last season, the average ground ball to fly ball ratio in the KBO League was almost the same at 1.02. However, the average ground ball to fly ball ratio of players who joined the national team this time was 1.23, far above the league average. This is the reason why kt Ko Young-pyo (1.86), who had the highest ratio in the league, and Park Se-woong (1.76), who had the second highest rate, boarded Lee Kang-cheol.

The background of the selection of players who wore the Taegeuk mark for the first time, such as Lotte Kim Won-joong (1.39) and LG Kim Yun-shik (1.48), can also be found in the ground ball to fly ball ratio.

Like this, Lee Kang-cheol-ho selected a large number of grounder judo pitchers because he had a ‘belief corner’. No matter how many pitchers induce ground balls, it is of no use if they cannot defend properly, but Lee Kang-cheol-ho built the best infield team ever. 슬롯사이트

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. In addition, the hot corner guarded by Choi Ji-man (Pittsburgh Pirates), one of the best first basemen in the US Major League, and Choi Jeong (SSG), the representative third baseman in the KBO League, is strong.

However, from the quarter-finals onward, it is expected that starting pitchers who press down with strong pitches will be needed. Gwak Bin (Doosan), who has the lowest ground ball to fly ball ratio of 0.7, and Lee Eui-ri (KIA), who have the lowest ground ball to fly ball ratio, are likely to take on the heavy responsibility.