'Recent 5G 2 wins and 3 losses'If you catch Taiwan, the road to Tokyo opens upRyu Joong Ilho's must-win key points are...

Nov 12, 2024

On the afternoon of the 10th, the Premier 12 baseball team held a practice game against the Taiwan Weiquan Dragons at Taipei Tiyanmu Baseball Stadium in Taiwan. a baseball team preparing for the game. Taipei (Taiwan) = Song Jeong-heon Reporter's songs@sportschosun.com/2024.11.10/

The Premier 12 baseball team held its first local adaptation training session at Taipei Tiyenmu Baseball Stadium in Taiwan on the afternoon of the 9th. Coach Ryu Joong-il watches the players train. Taipei (Taiwan) = Song Jeong-heon Reporter's songs@sportschosun.com/2024.11.09/

[Taipei (Taiwan) = Sports Chosun reporter Park Sang-kyung] Not all of us. But the goal is clear.

Ryu Joong-il will play his first Group B match against home team Taiwan in the 2024 WBSC Premier 12 group stage at Taipei Dome on the 13th (Korea time). Ryu Joong-il, who is in a group with Taiwan, Japan, Australia, Cuba and the Dominican Republic, must finish at least second to secure a spot in the Super Round at Tokyo Dome. Ryu Joong-il, the head coach of the national baseball team, also made it clear that `the primary goal is to go to Tokyo.' To achieve this goal, the team must win the home team's match against Taiwan.

▶ Recently, 5G is inferior to Taiwan, and targeting the selection is key

◇ Lin Yu-min at the time of the Hangzhou Asian Games. Sports Chosun DB

Taiwan is a team that has met at various international competitions. In international competitions for professional athletes, Korea has the advantage with 26 wins and 16 losses. However, in the last five games, they are inferior to each other with two wins and three losses. Last year, they had 1 win and 1 loss in the preliminary round (0-4 loss) and the final (2-0 win), which were the most recent showdowns.

The key to the match against Taiwan is to target the starting lineup.

Until now, Taiwanese pitchers who have played against Korea have been putting outstanding ball control rather than ball control. The characteristics of international competitions, which are applied to the KBO League and other wide strike zones, were fully utilized. There were many cases in which domestic batters failed to respond properly to Taiwanese pitchers' balls, which were unfamiliar.

Taiwan's starting pitcher against Korea is likely to be Lin Yu-min (Arizona Diamondbacks). Lin Yu-min pitched 104 ⅓ innings in minor double-A and triple-A without a big league appearance this year, with a 3-6 record and an ERA of 4.05.

Ryu Joong-il was scoreless until the sixth inning in the preliminary round of the Hangzhou Asian Games, when he first met Lin Yu-min last year, and eventually lost 0-4. He scored two runs in the fifth inning against Lin Yu-min, who took the mound again in the final, and kept it and won the gold medal by winning 2-0. However, even in the second meeting, he failed to completely target it.

▶ There's no number 4? There's a lot of possibilities for Big Inning!

On the afternoon of the 10th, the Premier 12 baseball team held a practice game against the Taiwan Weiquan Dragons at Taipei Tiyanmu Baseball Stadium in Taiwan. Kim Do-young hit a double in the bottom of the first inning. Taipei (Taiwan) = Song Jeong-heon Reporter's songs@sportschosun.com/2024.11.10/

On the afternoon of the 10th, the Premier 12 baseball team held a practice game against the Taiwan Weiquan Dragons at Taipei Tiyanmu Baseball Stadium in Taiwan. Yoon Dong-hee hit a solo home run in the second inning. Taipei (Taiwan) = Song Jeong-heon Reporter's songs@sportschosun.com/2024.11.10/

On the afternoon of the 10th, the Premier 12 baseball team held a practice game against the Taiwan Weiquan Dragons at Taipei Tiyanmu Baseball Stadium in Taiwan. Park Dong-won hit a timely RBI single in the ninth inning. Taipei (Taiwan) = Song Jeong-heon Reporter's songs@sportschosun.com/2024.11.10/

The key to the match against Taiwan is the batting performance.

Coach Ryu declared 'Beeball' at this tournament. As starting resources such as Moon Dong-ju (Hanwha) and Won Tae-in (Samsung) fell one after another, the range of utilization has narrowed significantly. Instead, it plans to mobilize all bullpen resources representing each team, including Park Young-hyun (KT), Yoo Young-chan (LG), Kim Taek-yeon (Doosan), Jeong Hae-young, Choi Jimin, Kwak Do-gyu (KIA), and Kim Seo-hyun (Hanwha).

In order to support such bee colony baseball, the power of hitting is inevitably more important than anything else. Even if they put all their mound resources into preventing the opponent's attack, they will inevitably lose if they fail to score points in the end. The strength of the batting lineup is essential even if it is to build a stable mound.

'No.4' has a lot of worries. Moon Bo-kyung (LG), who had settled down in the fourth batting order earlier, has rarely been on the rise.

However, what is encouraging is the overall structure of the team's batters. Kim Do-young (KIA) and Yoon Dong-hee (Lotte), who were placed before and after Moon Bo-kyung, proved their batting performance by shooting a double and a home run, respectively, at an exhibition game in Taiwan. In addition to these, it is also positive that most hitters such as Kim Hyung-joon (NC), Park Dong-won (LG), Lee Ju-hyung (Kium) and Hong Chang-ki (LG) are not bad. Given that there are many hitters with medium- and long-range batting production capabilities as well as contacts, the expectation of 'm driven' is well worth holding.

◇타이베이돔. Photo courtesy = WBSC

▶"Let's catch Korea!" Should we overcome Taiwan's one-sided cheering

In the first edition, he had to bear the `away burden' intact.

In the first round, it seems to be boiling because it is a showdown with Korea, which considers it an "old enemy". Since Ryu Joong-il entered the area, some Taiwanese media have been exclusively covering Korea. Local TV is also heating up the heat by introducing the tournament and Taipei Dome in time for Taiwan's first game. Tickets for the match against Taiwan are expected to be sold out early.

Ryu Joong-il was made up of young players who played in the Hangzhou Asian Games last year. As I have experienced not only the Asian Games but also the APBC (Asian Professional Baseball Championship), the international stage is not very unfamiliar. However, it is a different burden to face the opponent's unilateral support at a dome stadium that you have never seen before.

The Taipei Dome, which opened last year, can accommodate 40,000 people. It has a capacity similar to that of the Tokyo Dome, but unlike the roof of the Tokyo Dome, which is an air-boosting type, it has a steel structure. The infield stands up to the fourth floor are similar in style to Tokyo Dome, which extends to the outfield, but the outfield adopted an oval stands similar to Gocheok Dome. The only thing for artificial turf ground is to experience for about two hours at WBSC's official training on the 12th. The key is how much concentration they will show in an unfamiliar environment.

ppark@sportschosun.com