Fading Baseball Stars Hurt Olympic Chances
By Kim Tong-hyung
Staff Reporter
Since its superb showing in last year's World Baseball Classic (WBC), things have gone downhill for Korean baseball struggling with sagging attendance and a dearth of talent in domestic games.
Baseball officials have been hoping for a rebound at next year's Beijing Olympics _ which would also makeup for the failure to qualify for the Athens Games _ but if the fading performances of top Korean players are any indication, the country may once again find itself in the shadow of regional rivals Japan.
With the domestic baseball season nearing the playoffs, discussions are heating up over who should be in the 24-man roster for November's Olympic qualifying tournament in Taiwan with the stakes of one ticket to Beijing.
Regional powers Korea, Japan and Taiwan will be duking it out in an ultimate battle for bragging rights. And it seems likely that Korea, at least on paper, would be packing a lighter punch than defending WBC champions Japan and perhaps even hosts Taiwan, which has been putting up a convincing challenge for the regional status as Asia's No.2 baseball nation for years.
Despite the ongoing exodus of young talent to the United States, Korea currently has only one Major League Baseball (MLB) player _ Arizona Diamondbacks reliever Kim Byung-hyun _ to show for it. And with the MLB likely to ban any player on a team's 40-man roster from competing in international tournaments after the season, Kim, arguably the country's best pitcher, is not likely to be available in Taiwan.
There are a number of Koreans now in the minor league, but their struggles on farm teams raise questions whether they deserve a spot on the national squad.
Park Chan-ho, who inspired a generation of baseball players to turn pro in the U.S., now seems more washed up than beach sand. The 34-year-old pitcher, the country's first MLB player and a former National League All-Star for the Los Angeles Dodgers, is continuing to struggle for Houston Astros Triple-A affiliate Round Rock Express, posting a record of 2-7 with a 6.51 ERA.
It's never a good sign when the country's vernacular newspapers _ ever supportive of Park _ stretches logic to find ``hope'' in his recent outing when he gave up four runs while lasting just five innings.
Doosan Bears manager Kim Kyung-moon, who will also be at the helm of the national team's bench, would love to have Park's experience on the mound but it would be hard for him to justify picking up the former flamethrower who struggles to hit 90 miles per hour (145 kilometers per hour) on the radar gun and seems allergic to strikes.
Other U.S.-based pitchers, such as Seo Jae-weong and Kim Sun-woo, are playing a little better than Park in the minors, although that hardly means anything at this point.
Seo, forever a standard-bearer for mediocrity, is 5-3 with a 3.57 ERA in Triple-A and is failing to make the big league roster on one of baseball's worst teams, the Tampa Bay Devil Rays. ``Sunny'' Kim is 3-4 for a Triple-A affiliate of the San Francisco Giants and is good bet never to make it to the majors again.
Hitters are not faring much better. ``Lion King'' Lee Seung-yeop, the Yomiuri Giants slugger, is experiencing a drop off this year after a 40-homer season in 2006. Lee, the country's undisputed top baseball player, is due for surgery on his left hand at the end of the season, and may not return to full form by the start of the Olympic qualifiers.
Junichi Dragons outfielder Lee Byung-kyu is struggling through his rookie year in Japan, and his skills seem to be slipping at age 33. Cleveland Indians outfielder Choo Shin-soo has been out from injury throughout the season.
The sharp decline of Korea's foreign-based stars, who engineered the country's WBC success, means that the national team will now be forced to rely more on its domestic players at a time when the depth of local talent is depleting.
Kia Tigers' Lee Jong-beom, a mainstay with the national team in the past decade, is likely to be forced into retirement after the end of the season. Lotte Giants' Lee Dae-ho and Hanhwa Eagles' Kim Tae-gyun are establishing themselves as standout hitters in the domestic league, but both being first basemen, at least one of them is likely to come off the bench, considering that Yomuri's Lee could be saved a starting spot if his health permits.
Eight teams will compete in the Olympic baseball tournaments next year, with China, as the host nation, guaranteed an automatic entry. Three continental tournaments will qualify one team from Asia, two teams from the Americas, and another team from Europe.
The remaining three teams will be selected from a Final Olympic Qualifying Tournament joined by the third and fourth place teams from the Americas, second and third place teams from Asia, second and third place teams from Europe, and the Oceania champion and African champion.
With the International Olympic Committee (IOC) voting to remove baseball from the program for the 2012 games, Beijing might be Korea's last chance to win a gold medal unless the game is reinstated in the future.