Signing with St. Louis in January 2022, remaining as the first Asian amateur contract case in team history, Jo Won-bin (20) is taking steps toward the major leagues step by step.
It was just one game, but in this year’s demonstration game, he also played with St. Louis seniors. Personally, it was a great honor. What is surprising is that Cho Won-bin was a player who was at the rookie level last year. This is the part where you can realize that the team has pretty high expectations for Cho Won-bin.
Such Cho Won-bin has been promoted by one level this year. Cho Won-bin, who played 26 games in the rookie league last year, has confirmed that this year he will start the season with Palm Beach, a single A team under the club. Although his performance at the rookie level was not so good, the team saw that Cho Won-bin had enough qualifications to go to Single A.
In an interview with the St. Louis Post-Dispatch at the time of the demonstration game, Cho Won-bin told the anecdote about meeting Choo Shin-soo (41‧ SSG), his idol and one of the best fielders in Korean baseball history, through his agency last offseason. Jo Won-bin said, “I wanted to be like him (Choo Shin-soo), and I wanted to learn the same skills as him.” He said he had an offseason focused on further strengthening his strength and speed.
Cho Won-bin said, “(America) everything was fast. For example, the tempo of the game, velocity, etc. They receive the ball from the catcher and throw it right away. everything was fast I had to adapt to the pace of the game. It was really difficult,” he said. “In Korea, I felt my strength and speed, and compared to other players in Korea, I was above average, but there was nothing special here. I think we need to improve on those things, and we have to work harder on them,” he explained the main focus this year.
With each step forward, the thrilling major league debut will come a little closer. The pipeline on the official Major League Baseball website (MLB.com) ranked Cho Won-bin’s prospects within the team at 22nd this year, predicting his major league debut in 2026. It’s still a long way off, but if you think about it, it’s not that far off. Debuting in the major leagues at the age of 23 belongs to the fast axis. 온라인카지노
If you look at the prospect rankings in St. Louis, many of the pitchers are at the top of the list. Among the outfielders, the only left-hander like Cho Won-bin is Alec Burelson, who is 4 years older than Cho Won-bin. Burrelson already made his major league debut last year and was included on the opening roster this year as well. He is evaluated as good in strength, but his defense and main power are relatively poor. St. Louis is paying attention to Jo Won-bin as a left-handed outfielder to succeed Burelson. Attention is focusing on when the day will come when he can play in the major leagues like his idol Choo Shin-soo.