Ryu Joong-il, the former head coach of the Korean national baseball team, was deeply troubled by the lack of a suitable No. 4 hitter while preparing for the "2024 WBSC Premier 12" tournament in November last year. At the time of the tournament, it was more urgent not to have a first starter to be responsible for winning one game, but the disappearance of the national team's No. 4 hitter was also a pretty big problem.

Kim Do-young was named by Ryu after much consideration. Last year, Kim played 141 games, batted .347 (189 hits in 544 times at bat), had 38 homers, 40 steals, 109 RBIs, and 1.067 OPS, and won the regular season MVP award. Both his contact ability, quick feet and long-range shots showed off his best skills in the league. His physique and style of play are far from typical No. 4 hitters, but none of the fielders in the final entry of the Premier 12 were better than Kim Do-young given batting indicators.토토사이트

In the end, Ryu picked Yoon Dong-hee (Lotte Giants) as the fourth batter after much consideration. In the exhibition match that he held before the opening of the championship, Yoon displayed the fiercest sense of hitting by hitting home runs. However, his batting pace declined rapidly, as he was weighed down by the heavy responsibility of the fourth batter, and Moon Bo-kyung took over the role from the middle of the championship. Moon showed better batting performance than Yoon, but failed to display destructive power that changed the mood of Korea, which is highly likely to be eliminated due to the loss of the first match against Taiwan.

The KBO also made changes after suffering humiliating group elimination at the Premier 12 tournament and watching Taiwan, which had previously been evaluated with relatively low power, win the championship. The committee has also made changes to members of the committee except for Cho Kye-hyun and Chung Min-cheol. It has also appointed Kang In-kwon, Heo Sam-young, and Lee Dong-wook, who served as the KBO League's head coach until recently, and Kim Kang-min, who retired after playing active until last year. Ryu Joong-il has newly appointed Ryu Ji-hyun as the head coach of the team. With the aim of not repeating the humiliation of being eliminated in the first round at the World Baseball Classic in March 2026, the team has also decided to set up a younger team in line with the generational change of its players.

The Hangzhou Asian Games baseball team led by Ryu Joong-il had a training session at the Baseball Sports and Culture Center in Xiaoxing, Hangzhou, China on Tuesday afternoon. Kang Baek-ho, who is batting training. Hangzhou (China) = Song Jeong-heon Reporter's [email protected]/2023.09.29/
The new team will continue to find the fourth hitter who will succeed Lee Seung-yeop (the Doosan Bears coach), Lee Dae-ho (retired), and Park Byung-ho (the Samsung Lions), who led the golden age of Korean baseball in the past. If there is no big hitter ahead of the competition, chances are high that he will repeat his failures. Young big guns in their 20s desperately need to grow.

Leading candidates for the next No. 4 hitter include Noh Si-hwan (Hanwha Eagles) and Kang Baek-ho (kt Wiz). With 31 homers and 101 RBIs in 2023, Noh announced the birth of a young slugger by sweeping the home run and RBI king. Last year, he slowed down a bit by posting a batting average of 0.272 (143 hits in 526 at-bats), 24 homers and 89 RBIs, and although he could not play in the Premier 12 due to injury after the end of the season, he will have to continue to maintain the center of the Korean batting lineup.

Kang Baek-ho, a prospective free agent, made sure to motivate himself by signing an annual salary of 700 million won (approx. He gained a whopping 410 million won from last year's annual salary of 290 million won. While playing in all 144 games last season, he recorded a batting average of 0.289 (159 hits in 550 at-bats), 26 homers, 96 RBIs, and an OPS of 0.840 to display the revival of a genius hitter. Kang is expected to sign a large contract worth more than 10 billion won (approx. Kang has been known as the biggest fish in the FA after this season. Although his attitude has been an issue at international competitions where he has participated, he has displayed strong potential by playing well with unfamiliar balls. For now, he is highly likely to compete with Noh as the cleanup hitter.

Except for Kim Do-young, Noh Si-hwan and Kang Baek-ho, Kim Young-woong and Moon Bo-kyung are among the hitters in their 20s who achieved 20 home runs last year. Kim Young-woong had 26 home runs and Moon Bo-kyung had 22 home runs. Among them, Kim Do-young is the only batter who exceeded 30 home runs. In order for the second Lee Dae-ho and Park Byung-ho to come out, there should be more young home run hitters than now. One outstanding player, Kim Do-young, should not try to put out urgent fire.