Korean baseball ran its heyday with successive successes in the 2006 World Baseball Classic (WBC) and the 2009 WBC. Korea, which was thought to be a small country in Asia, raised its status by defeating baseball powerhouses one after another in the tournament, and it also led to a good opportunity to introduce Korea’s representative stars to the world. 메이저사이트
There are quite a few Korean hitters who made their name in the 2006 and 2009 tournaments. In the 2006 tournament, Lee Seung-yeop, the current Doosan coach, shined. Lee Seung-yeop showed off the spirit of Korea’s home run king with a batting average of 0.333, 5 homers, 10 RBIs, and an OPS (on-base percentage + slugging percentage) of 1.372 in 7 games.
He also became the home run king of the 2006 tournament, beating Adrian Beltre (4 homers), who has grown into a major league superstar and a leading hitter in the Dominican Republic. He was also the joint RBI kingpin with Ken Griffey Jr. (USA), who later entered the Major League Hall of Fame.
In the 2009 competition, Kim Tae-gyun saved his pride. He led the Korean runner-up with a batting average of 0.345, 3 homers, 11 RBIs and an OPS of 1.176 in 9 games. He was the tournament’s tied leader in home runs and RBI.
However, there is a possibility that a batsman Japan is proud of will surpass Lee Seung-yeop and Kim Tae-gyun’s RBI record. Masataka Yoshida (30), who crossed the Pacific Ocean with a five-year contract worth 90 million dollars (approximately 117.9 billion won) this year, is the protagonist. Yoshida, who insisted on joining the Japanese national team even though it was the season right after advancing to the major leagues, wielded a strong blow in the tournament and played a leading role in helping Japan advance to the semifinals.
Yoshida, who makes a cleanup for the Japanese national team with Shohei Ohtani (LA Angels) and Munetaka Murakami (Yakult), is one of the best hitters of this tournament. He played a big role with a batting average of 0.400 and an OPS of 1.189 in 5 games until the quarterfinals. What is surprising is his clutch ability. When he has runners, he shows a particularly strong performance and has already scored 10 runs. He is the tournament RBI lead ahead of Landia Rosarena (Mexico‧9 RBIs).
Japan is showing a formidable on-base percentage in the 1st to 3rd batting order from Ras Nutba to Ohtani. However, there was a risk that Murakami’s attack power could not explode due to the sluggishness of No. 4, but Yoshida, who was located in No. 5, was able to cruise by doing Murakami’s share.
Japan has achieved a record of more than the semifinals in all four WBCs in history, and with this tournament, it has achieved a remarkable achievement of reaching the semifinals in five consecutive tournaments. Even in Japan, Yoshida was the first player to record more than 10 RBIs in a single tournament. Yoshida has now surpassed Lee Seung-yeop and Kim Tae-gyun, and has created a foothold to challenge Vladimir Valentin (Netherlands)’ 12 RBIs in 2017, the record for the most RBIs in the history of the tournament.
All major league officials admit that Yoshida is a good hitter, but it is true that there are different opinions even in the field as to whether Yoshida is a hitter worth 90 million dollars for 5 years. If Yoshida hits well against Mexico and also against potential finals opponents the United States, he could start the season feeling good with much of that evaluation changed.