39-year-old Ryu Hyun-jin returns to national college? Why did Lee Jung-hoo speak to KBO with determination…If you take out all the veterans
Feb 18, 2025
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Lee Jung-hoo (27, San Francisco Giants) questioned whether KBO's strategy to change the generation of the national team is going the right way. He met with Korean reporters, including Yonhap News, at Scottsdale Stadium in Scottsdale, Arizona on the 16th (Korea time), saying, "I hope not only the players but also the KBO secretariat will prepare well." left a message of solace.
Lee Jung-hoo is a player who wants and should lead the revival of Korean baseball more than anyone else. Lee Jung-hoo felt more regretful and blamed himself than anyone else when South Korea confirmed its elimination from the first round for the third consecutive time at the 2023 World Baseball Classic (WBC). At that time, Lee Jung-hoo drew attention with his play that matched his interest and expectations, but he could not hide his disappointment that South Korea hit a wall of the world again.
Lee Jung-hoo was especially surprised after watching the balls of the Japanese national team pitchers. In addition to Shohei Ohtani and Rocky Sasaki (L.A. Dodgers), who are famous for their fastballs, few pitchers in Japan were below 150 kilometers of fastball speed, and their control was elaborate. Most pitchers freely use various breaking balls such as fork balls, curves, sliders, and changeups. In the KBO League, it was a ball that could only be seen by ace pitchers.
Lee Jung-hoo won five hits (batting rate, hit, RBI, on-base percentage, slugging percentage) in 2022 and won the MVP title, but it was good to hit the balls he had never seen before in his life. Definitely, the Japanese pitchers' ball was good. They were balls that we didn't see in the league`.
Korean baseball has not changed much since the WBC Tokyo disaster. KBO won the gold medal at the 2022 Hangzhou Asian Games, which tried to overcome the shock of the WBC for the first time, but it had to suffer another humiliation of being eliminated from the first round of the group stage at the '2024 WBC Premier 12' held in November last year. In the Premier 12, Kim Do-young (22, KIA Tigers) was very active, but he had a hard time with the starting pitcher's difficulty. No starter lasted more than five innings in a game. It was a decisive reason for his frustration as he knelt on Taiwan and Japan.
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Lee Jung-hoo also said, `The national team is not a place to gain experience, but a place where the best performers of the year go and fight for our country's name. Even though there is a senior who performed well, a young player should not go out in the name of a generational change."
Left-hander Ryu Hyun-jin (38, Hanwha Eagles) is a representative veteran who was disappointed by his elimination from the national team during the Premier 12 last year. Ryu Hyun-jin gave up his major league career and chose to return to Korea last season, making him free to join the national team. Ryu Hyun-jin posted 10-8 losses, 158 ⅓ innings and a 3.87 ERA in 28 games last year, signaling the veteran's robustness.
Asked if he would be willing to play if he was selected as a Premier 12 player when he returned to Korea, Ryu said, `I think it's natural as a player. I don't know if you'll pick me, but I want to go to the national team one more time and play as a player representing Korea"I tried to express my wish, but it didn't come true.
Ryu Hyun-jin will be 39 years old by 2026. It is still too early to be sure whether he will be able to maintain his best skills and physical strength in the KBO League until then. Kim Kwang-hyun (37, SSG Landers) and Kim Hyun-soo (37, LG Twins), who contributed greatly to the international competition, have already announced their retirement from the national team. I think we should continue to think about how to harmonize the old and new with players in their early and mid-30s.
KBO broke up with former coach Ryu Joong-il while failing to produce results in the 2024 Premier 12 and newly appointed coach Ryu Ji-hyun. A number of former KBO coaches, including Kang In-kwon, Lee Dong-wook and Heo Sam-young, were appointed to the Korea Power Reinforcement Committee, and veteran outfielder Kim Kang-min, who retired after last season, joined the committee, drawing attention. Focusing on them, preparations to achieve results at the 2026 WBC will begin. It is a question mark whether to maintain the same generational change strategy for the national team as before.
First of all, coach Ryu Ji-hyun will leave for Taiwan on the 20th to analyze the history of the WBC qualifying round. The WBC qualifying round at Taipei Dome in Taiwan will be held in round robin format with four countries participating: Taiwan, South Africa, Nicaragua and Spain. The top two teams to qualify for the qualifying round will qualify for the WBC finals in March 2026.
Along with head coach Ryu, Kang In-kwon, Lee Dong-wook, Heo Sam-young, a power reinforcement committee member, and an employee in charge of power analysis will accompany him on this power analysis business trip. It will conduct power analysis until the 25th and return home on the 26th.
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This article was translated by Naver AI translator.
