Professional baseball, which was shaken by the sluggish WBC (World Baseball Classic) and various deviations, recovered its average attendance of 10,000 per game thanks to the promotion of popular teams such as ‘Ellotgi’. However, it is not just a fun season for the players who participated in the 2023 WBC. This is because there are many cases where they suffer from injuries and sluggishness and go through difficult times.
revealed in numbers. Although only about a month has passed since the regular season, 5 out of 15 pitchers in the national team have had the experience of being listed on the injured list. Ko Woo-seok (LG Twins), Lee Yong-chan (NC Dinos), So-jun So (kt wiz), and Kim Gwang-hyun (SSG Landers) have left the squad more than once.
Even Gwak Bin (Doosan Bears), who was in the best shape with 3 wins and 1 loss, 0.88 ERA and 0.163 batting average in 5 games in April, came off the mound on the 8th due to a back injury. Kwak Bin posted an apology through his social network service (SNS), saying, “I was very greedy to throw really well in front of a large crowd, and I wanted to end the team’s losing streak, but I’m sorry for showing this.”
It’s not just pitchers. Oh Ji-hwan and Kim Hyeon-soo (above LG Twins) returned after falling out due to oblique muscle and back pain, respectively, and Na Seong-beom (KIA Tigers), who had a bad calf since the WBC, has been closed for a long time. In addition, Park Byeong-ho (kt wiz), who was the fourth hitter of the national team, is also in poor physical condition with a hamstring injury and Choi Ji-hoon (SSG Landers) also suffered an ankle injury. (19 hits in 87 at-bats), 3 home runs, and 13 RBIs, which is not the same as before.
It has no choice but to affect the ranking of each team. The team that suffered the most damage was kt wiz, led by coach Lee Kang-cheol, who served as the command tower at the time of the WBC. It has the power to advance into fall baseball, but is in last place with 8 wins, 18 losses and 2 draws. It was difficult to go all-in in the spring camp from the start of the coaching, and considering the gaps such as So Joon So, Park Byeong-ho, and Ju Kwon, who participated in the WBC with the Chinese national team, it was not normal. 메이저놀이터
A professional baseball team trainer who requested anonymity predicted, “If you look directly at the players’ bodies, the distance traveled by plane was long, and there was also a weather problem, so fatigue was inevitable.”
Of course, you can’t just blame the WBC for injuries or sluggishness. This is all the more true considering that Shohei Ohtani (LA Angels) and Roki Sasaki (Chiba Lotte) of the Japanese national team, who played more games than Korea, are showing great performances in the regular season afterwards.
MBC Sports commentator Jeong Min-cheol said, “Unfortunately, the injuries overlap and talk of the aftermath of the WBC, but these days, players go to individual training sooner after each team’s finishing training, so it’s hard to say that they were injured by getting in shape earlier than usual.” “In the first place, players who were advanced in skill and mental strength were able to make it to the national team, and as a professional player, injury management is also an important virtue, so we have to overcome it,” he said.