The Korean baseball team’s clock, which is challenging the semifinals of the World Baseball Classic (WBC), has begun to turn. 42 days after the announcement of the final entry, the players gathered together for joint training.
The WBC team, led by head coach Lee Kang-cheol, gathered at Westward Rock Wyndham Grand Resort in Tucson, Arizona, the joint training ground on the 15th (Korean time). It has been 42 days since the preliminary call on the 4th that all 28 players, excluding big leaguers Kim Ha-seong (San Diego Padres) and Tommy Hyun-soo Edman (St. Louis Cardinals), have gathered. Kim Ha-seong will join the domestic training on the 2nd of next month, and Edmon will join Osaka, Japan on the 4th of the same month.
On this day, coach Lee Kang-cheol and players from KT, KIA, and NC arrived first. They were conducting a team spring camp at the Kino Sports Complex, which is the same joint training site. Next, players from Kiwoom LG and SSG training in the United States, Australia and Guam, and Doosan, Lotte, and Samsung training in Japan appeared in turn. The team started their first practice at 10:00 am (local time) on the same day, starting with jet lag and climate adaptation training. 슬롯사이트
Kino Sports Complex, where the athletes train, is characterized by having a huge baseball field with 12 sides, including main and auxiliary fields. Two of these sides are used by our national team. The reason why joint training is being held here is that six of the KBO clubs have prepared spring camps in Arizona.
The team’s priority is ‘adapting to jet lag’. The team has to travel between Korea, the United States and Japan several times. On this day, the national team gathered in the United States will start with the NC Dinos and learn a sense of practice through practice matches with four KBO clubs until the 28th. After returning to Korea, he will head to Tokyo, where the first round of the WBC finals will be held via Osaka, Japan. If they advance to the semifinals, they have to play up to two games in Miami, Florida, USA, and then return to Korea.
For some players, the schedule is harsher. In the case of pitcher Won Tae-in (Samsung), he went to Japan to join the team’s spring camp after individual training in the United States in January. After 15 days, they crossed the Pacific again and arrived in the United States. If he advances to the semifinals, Won Tae-in will have to travel about 72,000 km (based on straight-line distance) in two and a half months. That’s twice the circumference of the Earth (about 40,000 km). On the other hand, competing teams in the same Group B have relatively relaxed schedules. For this reason, KBO is concentrating its efforts on condition management, such as supporting business class flights to the squad.