Choo Shin-soo (40, SSG)’s remarks made on a radio show in the US are causing much controversy in Korea.
This is because Choo Shin-soo’s remarks on the Korean radio station ‘DKNET’ in Dallas, Texas on the 21st (Korean time) are not gaining consensus from the public. At the same time, some claims are causing controversy because they do not properly grasp the facts.
In this broadcast, Choo Shin-soo said, ‘It seems that forgiveness is not easy in Korea.’, ‘Not everyone who was born early is a senior.’ He made several high-level remarks such as ‘WBC should have picked a new player’. However, most of them, except for some, are pointed out that they are views that eventually represent some opinions in the baseball world, or that they reveal individual misunderstood views.
Even if the problems of the controversial remarks about the actual selection of An Woo-jin (24, Kiwoom) are set aside, there is an issue that Choo Shin-soo continues to point out after spending considerable time on the grounds of ‘generational change’. It is that the national team mound needs a new face, but if you look at the facts, the meaning of the claim is faded because it is different from the reality.
This is because the members of the 2023 World Baseball Classic (WBC) national team pitcher entry are the youngest mound in the history of the competition, with young guns more than ever.
Of the final 30 players, 15 were pitchers. 8 righties, 2 sidearms, 5 lefties.
Among them, only four pitchers are over the age of 30. Simply put, the average age of 15 pitchers in the national team is 26.1 years old, which is very young. By far, the average age is the lowest among all four WBC national team pitching entries.
Kim Kwang-hyeon (34, SSG), Yang Hyeon-jong (34, KIA), Lee Yong-chan (34, NC), Koh Young-pyo (31, kt), with only four veteran pitchers in their 30s or older, and Lotte’s Kim Won-joong (29)-Park Se-woong (27) ) is a composition that becomes the middle leader behind him.
And the remaining 9 pitchers out of 15 were filled with young pitchers, most of them in their early to mid-20s and some in their mid-20s. Taein Won (22, Samsung), Bin Kwak (23, Doosan), Changmo Koo (25, NC), Joon Sohn (21, kt), Wooseok Ko (24) of LG – Yunsik Kim (22) – Wooyoung Jeong (23), Cheolwon Jeong (23) , Doosan) and Eui-ri Lee (20, KIA) were filled with young pitchers within 3-7 years of joining the team.
On the radio, Choo Shin-soo said, “How long are Kim Gwang-hyun and Yang Hyeon-jong? Even in Japan, there is an article called ‘How long will you be Kim Kwang-hyun?’ There are many new faces just by looking at Japan,” he said. “If it were me, I would have seen the future. I think I looked at the future rather than the current grades. I should have picked a new player,” he criticized the WBC national team mound entry.
However, this is in direct contradiction to WBC coach Lee Kang-cheol’s pitcher selection ethos and mound operation plan. National team coach Lee Kang-cheol and WBC Technical Committee Chairman Jo Beom-hyun selected young pitchers as starting pitchers to catch both the “generational shift” and “international competitiveness” in this tournament, and tasked veterans such as Kim Gwang-hyeon, Yang Hyeon-jong, and Lee Yong-chan as relief pitchers in important scenes in the game. plans to entrust
Due to the limited nature of the number of pitches, it is planned to announce the destruction of positions and operate the mound without distinction between starting and relief teams. Nevertheless, in the end, the most important starting pitchers are young pitchers in their 20s such as Koo Chang-mo, Gwak Bin, Won Tae-in, Park Se-woong, Sohn Joon-jun, and Kim Yun-sik, and even sidearm Koh Young-pyo, who has excellent competitiveness in international competitions, is expected to take over.
The same goes for Daepil Seungjo. Even if Kim Gwang-hyun and Yang Hyeon-jong go to the match, it is very likely that Go Woo-seok will be the finishing pitcher who plays the role of finishing the game. In addition, it is highly likely that young Ku Gu-jin, like Jung Woo-young and Jung Cheol-won, will play a key role in the bullpen along with veteran Lee Yong-chan.
In the end, even in terms of average age and role, it is true that this WBC is undergoing a clear generational change on the mound. The fact that Ahn Woo-jin and Moon Dong-ju (19, Hanwha), who took a long time to reveal the regret of not being selected by Choo Shin-soo, fell into the national team entry, it means that the national team mound is not filled only with veterans.
Many people can sympathize with the point that the generational change of the ‘representative pitcher’, who will become the Korean mound ace, is being delayed. However, it is difficult to gain sympathy from the pitcher entry, at least in the pitcher’s entry, for .스포츠토토 the argument that ‘only veterans were selected based on grades, and a new face was needed to be selected’.
Of course, in the case of Yasujin, it is true that the need for a generational change is desperately needed, with the average age reaching 32 years old. In addition, the fact that many of the key players are veterans in their 30s or older is an issue that could become a big problem in the future. This is an element that stands out compared to the past, when the WBC national team was composed of young players.
However, at the same time, this is also a point that overlooks the characteristics of the WBC, which considers ‘international competitiveness’ important. Although historical WBC cases are worrisome, they are not overly rare either. In past competitions, many countries, including South American countries such as the Dominican Republic, Cuba, Puerto Rico, and Panama, have already retired players or veterans who have not been able to play in the big leagues and have passed their prime.
Due to the nature of the tournament, where rich experience in short matches is more important than anything else, this is an unavoidable phenomenon except for some countries with a very thick player base, and it is also a sad reality.