Korea to take on Israel in WBC 1st round
By Baek Byung-yeul
Korea will clash with Israel in the first round of the World Baseball Classic at Seoul’s Gocheok Sky Dome, Monday, 6:30 p.m.
The Korean national baseball team is paired with Chinese Taipei, Netherlands and Israel in Pool A.
The Korean team has tuned up for the Pool A matches, setting up a training camp in Okinawa, Japan, for 10 days last month, but fans raised concerns over the team as they lost to two Japanese baseball clubs Yomiuri Giants and Yokohama DeNA BayStars.
However, the team could regain its confidence after defeating Cuba in back-to-back exhibition games and Australia at the Gocheok Sky Dome. The Korean team completed their final tune-up after having matches against second-tier Futures League teams on Thursday and Saturday. On Thursday’s game, the team lost the seven-inning game against the military club Sangmu 4-1 but defeated the Korean Police Baseball Team 11-1 on Saturday.
Wrapping up seven practice games with four wins and three losses, the national team had its last practice session at the domed ballpark on Sunday.
For Korean players who set their goal to advance to the next round, they must beat Israel, but Kim In-sik, manager of the Korean team, said the Israeli team shouldn’t be taken lightly.
“Their pitching staff looks good, and their lineup is quite powerful,” Kim said during the press conference, Sunday. “I got the feeling they are stronger than we thought.”
The Israeli team will start former major league All-Star Jason Marquis. The 38-year-old right hander last pitched in the majors in 2015 with the Cincinnati Reds, but seems to remain well-conditioned as he tossed scoreless two innings against the Korean Police Baseball Team in a practice game. Israel defeated Sangmu and the Korean Police Baseball Team, by 1-0 and 5-2 in practice games.
Korea will counter with Chang Won-jun, who had 15 wins with 3.32 ERA last season for the Doosan Bears of the Korea Baseball Organization (KBO).
Hinting at possible lineup changes on Monday’s match, Kim said he may make changes at third base and left field.
“My coaches and I are still trying to decide if we should go for offense or defense,” Kim said. “We also can’t ignore the players’ psychological state.”
The team’s third baseman Park Sok-min has been experiencing right elbow pain for the past couple of weeks. Considering the issue, Hur Kyoung-min of the Bears played third base in the Saturday’s practice game.
Left fielder Choi Hyung-woo might also be benched in Monday’s game. The 33-year-old slugger, who represents his country for the first time, is expected to contribute in a big way, but went hitless in 17 at-bats before picking up two hits on Saturday. Playing 11 seasons for the Samsung Lions of the KBO, Choi recorded .314 of batting average with 1,309 hits including 234 home runs, 911 RBIs, 705 runs. Last season, he led the league in batting (.376), hits (195) and RBIs (144) to be named as the MVP runner-up.