There is a word that comes to mind whenever Taiwan loses every international competition. It is "catastrophe." However, the term "catastrophe" does not seem appropriate anymore. The reality of Korean baseball is that difficult games are repeated every time we meet Taiwan.
The Korean national team, led by head coach Ryu Joong-il, knelt down 3-6 against Taiwan in the opening match of the 2024 World Baseball Softball Confederation (WBSC) Premier 12 Group B at Taipei Dome in Taiwan on the 13th.
Japan, Taiwan, Australia, the Dominican Republic and Australia have played all important games, but the most important one was the match against Taiwan in the opening of the group. This is because chances were high that they would fight for the second place in the group calmly. Ryu Joong-il chose Ko as the starting pitcher early on, but did not disclose his starting pitcher until the day before the opening game was scheduled to take place on Saturday.
On the other hand, with Lin Yu-min, whom Taiwan had already met at the Hangzhou Asian Games (AG), it was relatively easy for Ryu to prepare for the game. However, the result was not good. Starter Ko Young-pyo gave up two hits and one walk in the second inning, causing a two-out bases-loaded walk, and hitting a grand slam against Chen Chen Chen Wei of Taiwan. It was the cause of concern that he did not fall into the change-up he chose at the first pitch.
It was not just that he allowed a double to his successor, Lin Li, causing the crisis to continue, and this time, he was hit by a two-run homer off Chen Jie-hsuen, which widened the gap to 0-6 in no time. In fact, it was safe to say that he was leaning toward victory. Korea, which failed to display strong performance against Taiwan's starting pitcher Lin Yu-min, added tension to the game again by hitting consecutive timely hits by Kim Do-young and Park Dong-won at the top of the fourth inning.
However, the result remained the same. When Korea followed suit, Taiwan replaced Lin Yu-min after four ⅔ innings, displaying a winning move. As a result, Korea started to struggle again to take the mound in Taiwan, and Na Seung-yeop, who played as a pinch hitter in the top of the seventh inning, scored a solo home run with the help of a video reading to narrow the gap to three points, but failed to reverse the trend and lost 3-6.
Despite the shocking defeat, it was not a disaster. The Hangzhou Asian Games confirmed last year that Korea's baseball quality has already been overtaken by Taiwan. Korea lost to Lin Yu-min 0-4 in the group stage match of the Asian Games last year. Due to this, the road to the final was very difficult. Afterwards, he scored two points from the beginning of the match against Lin Yu-min, who met again in the final, to create a history of "four consecutive tournaments." However, his performance left a deep regret.
After the competition, Ryu was perplexed by Taiwan's level of performance. Ryu Joong-il, who was interviewed by reporters on his way back to Korea, said, "There were some age restrictions and some players had weak power. The fans were worried about whether they could win a gold medal, but the players worked hard to win the gold medal," but added, "Japan is basically a good team for social baseball, and Taiwan feels like a step up in pitching, defense, and hitting compared to the past seven to 10 years ago. I think we need to be careful from now on."
Ryu Joong-il then said, "We have to prepare from now on. If you look at the KBO League now, you will see a lot of errors in defense. I think there are more mistakes in running base play as well. I think we should reduce these things more and more." And during the Premier 12 call-up training, he said, "Taiwan has changed a lot. As a player, as a coach, and as a coach, it was different from a coach. The basics and these things are the pictures that go a lot toward Japanese baseball. I used to play baseball only with strength, but now the pictures of playing baseball have changed a lot." 메이저사이트
Moreover, concerns have become a reality. Not everything can be evaluated in a short-term match, but considering last year's Hangzhou Asian Games, Taiwan has definitely risen to the same level with Korea in terms of mounding and offense. Taiwan outperformed Korea in ball and defense on the day. This part clearly shows the reality of Korean baseball. As Taiwan had no medal at the Tokyo Olympics and was eliminated in the group stage at the World Baseball Classic, it would not be a surprise if it does not make the Super Round in the Premier 12.