The national Bears right-hander who seeks revenge on WBC
Kwak Bin, a right-hander of the Doosan Bears, dreams of avenging Shohei Ohtani (LA Dodgers), who gave up a double during the disaster at Tokyo Dome a year ago. Kwak Bin, who finished his first exhibition game well, hopes to play in a practice game against the LA Dodgers as a pitcher for Team Korea.
Kwak Bin started against the Jamsil KIA Tigers in the 2024 KBO exhibition game on March 14 and recorded 27 no-hitter hits, one strikeout, and two walks in 1.2 innings.
Kwak will pitch for the first time in this exhibition game on March 14. Kwak will play in a special match between Team Korea and the San Diego Padres and the Los Angeles Dodgers to be held at Gocheok Dome on March 17 and 18. He needs to adjust the pitching interval and pitch count.
“Kwakbin will throw today, take three days off and take the mound as a Team Korea player,” Lee told reporters ahead of the game on Wednesday. “Kwakbin will throw today, take three days off, and take the mound as a Team Korea player. We discussed with Team Korea manager Ryu Joong-il in advance. Not only Kwak Bin but also Kim Taek-yeon and Lee Byung-hun will try to control what they can control with Team Korea. There will be no big problem in preparing for the opening of the regular season,” Lee said.
Kwak was shaken up when he gave up a walk to leadoff hitter Park Chan-ho in the top of the first inning. However, Kwak caught Choi Won-joon on a grounder to the second base and induced Kim Do-young to hit a double play to shortstop to end the inning.
After taking the mound in the top of the second inning, Kwak struck out Na Sung-bum, the leadoff hitter, as a strikeout. Kwak allowed a walk after a seven-pitch full count match with Socrates, the follow-up hitter. Later, Kwak was given a warning for violating the pitch clock before facing the next batter Choi Hyung-woo. Kwak caught Choi with a fly ball to the left field, handed the ball over to Park Shin-ji, and finished the game on the day. It was decided to replace him early due to adjustment of the number of pitches considering his team’s decision to take the mound in Korea.
Doosan won its fourth consecutive exhibition game with a 7-2 victory as Kim Jae-hwan made a timely hit in the bottom of the first inning and a six-run big inning in the bottom of the fourth inning.
“The original plan was to throw only one inning, but the number of pitches was smaller than I thought, so I threw more balls in the second inning as well,” Kwak told reporters after the game. “I had two walks, but I am satisfied with the fact that Ji-ui said that the rotation of the ball has improved compared to the camp time. Peach Clark was also warned once, but it didn’t bother him that much. I am not sure about the ABS system yet either,” Kwak said in his first appearance at an exhibition game.
Kwak will join the Korean national team on Wednesday and will play in practice games against the San Diego Padres and the Dodgers. Kwak hoped to play in the showdown against the Dodgers on Wednesday. That’s why he belongs to Ohtani, whom he faced off at the WBC championship a year ago. Kwak met Ohtani at the Tokyo Dome against Japan. Kwak has bitter memories of being hit twice by Ohtani in right field.
Kwak Bin said, “Playing against top Major League players would be of great help to me. If I ask all the players of the national team, wouldn’t they want to compete with the Dodgers? Actually, I thought that since I faced Ohtani a year ago, I would never have a chance to meet him again. However, I was hoping that I would be selected as a member of the national team. If I meet Ohtani again, I will do my best to pitch as if it is a game to win.”
Kwak started in a special match against the Softbank Hawks last time, and faced off against Yuki Yanagita, a star player of the opposing team, twice, and had to walk and lead him to miss a pitch. “I thought the ball was really good,” Yanagita told Korean reporters after the game. “I heard you were a young pitcher, but I think you will become a good pitcher more and more.”
“I feel like I have left an achievement in my baseball career,” Kwak said after hearing Yanagita’s compliment. “I wanted to make a good result in dealing with well-known batters. What surprised me was that Yanagita was that he swung at my curveball for the second time at bat. If I had been hit properly, the ball would still be flying,” he said with a smile.
Doosan seems to be emerging as a dark horse to win the title amid stellar performance at exhibition games. As Doosan’s starting lineup is considered one of its strengths, Kwak Bin is the most important key to its team’s good performance in the 2024 season.
“To be honest, I feel a bit overwhelmed by that evaluation. Now that people say that I am a professional athlete who needs to do well in the basics, I am trying harder,” Kwak said. “I was in good physical condition during the spring camp and if I continue preparing for the opening game according to my routine, I will be able to complete this season well.”
BY: 토토사이트 추천