A list of 600 players from 20 countries who will participate in the 2023 World Baseball Classic (WBC), where baseball stars from all over the world are mobilizing, has been released. Looking at the list of participating countries announced live by the WBC Secretariat on the 10th (Korean time) on the MLB.com homepage, the official major league homepage, Korea, aiming for the semifinals or higher in this tournament, is in an advantageous situation for passing the group stage (advancing to the quarterfinals). done. This is because most of the threatening names were omitted from the final entry (30 players) of the ambush Australian national team.
Outfielder Aaron Whitefield (Los Angeles Angels) is the only player included in the 40-man roster of the American professional baseball major league in the roster of the Australian national team released on the day. There are also six minor leaguers, but they do not have a record worth mentioning except infielder Robbie Glendining (Kansas City Royals) who hit 19 home runs in Double-A last year.
The departure of Chicago White Sox closer Liam Hendricks, who was diagnosed with non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, a type of blood cancer, was predicted early on. Infielder Curtis Meade, a prospect for the Tampa Bay Rays, and Alex Wells (free agent) and Lewis Thorpe (Minnesota Twins), left-handed pitchers who travel between the big leagues and Triple A, also failed to join the WBC team.
MLB.com commented, “This Australian team cannot be called ‘the greatest ever’.” Australia’s main pitcher is Warwick Soffold (Perth, Australia), who stood on the mound in the major leagues for the Detroit Tigers and played for the Hanwha Eagles in the KBO League in 2019 and 2020. MLB.com also picked Whitefield and Saupold as key players in the Australian national team.
Saupold posted a 22-24 record with a 4.16 ERA in 59 appearances over two seasons in the KBO League. In the 2022-23 Australian league, he slumped with an average ERA of 5.56 with 3 wins and 2 losses. In the first round, Korea will face Australia (9th), Japan (10th), Czech Republic (12th) and China (13th) in turn. The top 2 in the group advances to the quarterfinals.
Australia’s power is not strong, but coach Lee Kang-cheol is not vigilant. Manager Lee said, “In addition to Supold, there are several good pitchers in Australia who throw fastballs in the 150km/h range. “There is a high possibility that Australia will use all of its key pitchers in the match against Korea aiming for second place in the group,” he said. “We will prepare in detail.”
The Chinese national team includes pitcher Ju Kwon (kt wiz) who plays in the KBO league, outfielder Yusuke Masago who was a member of the Softbank Hawks of the Japanese professional baseball league until last year, and pitcher Alan Chang Carter, who played as a player at Lee University in Cleveland, USA and signed an amateur FA contract with the Angels. was included The other player is from the Chinese league. In the aftermath of Corona 19, the Chinese league has not been held recently, so the players in the Chinese league are also in a state of decline. Eric Sogad, a veteran infielder who spent 11 years in the major leagues, joined the Czech national team. Of the 30 Czech players, he is the only one with big league experience. Sogard played 815 games in the majors, posting a batting average of 0.246, 26 homers, and 187 RBIs.
Meanwhile, according to the WBC Secretariat, out of a total of 600 WBC players, 332 players belong to major league clubs, more than half of them. There are 186 active big leaguers included in the 40-man roster, and 67 MLB All-Stars. There are 8 ‘stars among stars’ who have won the MLB Most Valuable Player (MVP). MVP winners such as Mike Trout, Mookie Betts, Paul Goldschmidt, Clayton Kershaw (above United States), Shohei Otani (Japan), Miguel Cabrera, Jose Altuve (above Venezuela), and Freddie Freeman (Canada) have national flags on their chests. and enter the competition. 바카라
Korea and Japan’s ‘active MVP’ will also be on the WBC. Kiwoom Heroes Lee Jeong-hoo, who won 5 KBO league batting crowns last season, is a ‘next-generation star’ that the WBC Secretariat is paying attention to. Reporter John Moroshi, who appeared on the roster announcement live broadcast that day, said, “Lee Jung-hoo is a player who plays similarly to Ichiro. (WBC) said, “It will be a stage to advance one step further,” and highlighted “the core of the Korean national team trying to make up for the disappointing performance six years ago.” MLB.com also introduced, “The match between Trout and Ohtani, Julio Urias and Betts, Sander Bohartz and Darvish Yu, and the match between Lee Jung-hoo and pitchers who could become his teammates next year already excite fans.”
In addition, Murakami, who hit 56 homers last season and was selected as the youngest unanimous MVP of the Central League of the Nippon Professional Baseball, is expected to have a ‘Korean-Japanese genius hitter showdown’ with Lee Jung-hoo.
The WBC kicks off with the official opening match between Cuba and the Netherlands on March 8 and concludes with the final on the 22nd.