THE BULLPEN + INFIELD ARE ALL-TIME GOOD, BUT WHO SHOULD I TAKE OUT... THE NATIONAL TEAM WILL CONFIRM ITS FINAL ENTRY AS EARLY AS TWO DAYS BEFORE LEAVING THE COUNTRY

The bullpen + infield are all-time good, but who should I take out... The national team will confirm its final entry as early as two days before leaving the country

The bullpen + infield are all-time good, but who should I take out... The national team will confirm its final entry as early as two days before leaving the country

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"I'll think about it until the end."

As soon as the Korean Series ends, another big game is waiting for fans. It is the "Premier 12," a national competition.

The Korean national baseball team won the first Premier 12 tournament in 2015 and finished second in the second tournament in 2019.

Performance at international competitions will soon become the cornerstone of baseball's popularity. If the team performs well in the Premier 12 following 10 million regular-season spectators and all post-season games sold out, it is expected that the Korean baseball craze will continue this year in the next season.

Korea, which belongs to Group B of this year's event, will play its group league match in Taiwan from March 13. Starting with Taiwan, Korea will meet Cuba, Japan and the Dominican Republic, and then play Australia in the group league after a day off. Here, the top two countries will advance to the super round.

The national team is currently training with 35 preliminary entries. The final entry will be narrowed down to 28 from here.

Ryu Joong-il, who had been struggling with the absence of Koo Ja-wook, Noh Si-hwan, and Kang Baek-ho and Kim Hye-sung due to basic military training schedules, but he is filling the vacancy by convening additional players.

In particular, the national team consisted mainly of young players, who are considered "all-time best" in their performance. The bullpen is the best. There are a number of young gun pitchers who are literally "good at the ball," including Kim Taek-yeon and Park Young-hyun, who are playing the closing role of their teams, as well as So Hyung-joon and Kwak Do-gyu.

Ryu Joong-il, who met before the 2024 WBSC Premier 12 national team training held at Gocheok Sky Dome on Tuesday, also praised the bullpen pitcher, saying, "I watched him throw the ball, and everyone is good at it." Asked by reporters who will be the closing pitcher, Ryu said, "(Everything) is done," smiling.

"Kim Taek-yeon and Park Young-hyun are good, and especially Cho Hyung-joon threw so well," he said. "In the Korean series, Kwak Do-gyu also looked good throwing."

There are also good players in the corner infield, the third baseman. There are Kim Do-young, Song Sung-moon and Moon Bo-kyung, and Ryu Joong-il will first use Kim Do-young as a third baseman.

"We will leave the defense (third baseman) to Kim Do-young first. It is right to place him in a familiar position," Ryu said. "Song can be positioned at first, second and third bases. Park Sung-han, Kim Joo-won and Kim Hui-jip are in shortstop positions. I think one player will be excluded (from the entry)."

As for the national team's long hit, which is missing the main players such as Koo Ja-wook, Kang Baek-ho and Noh Si-hwan, he said, "There are players with long hitters such as Kim Do-young, Kim Young-woong and Lee Ju-hyung. We have only trained, but the quality of the batting is all good in general." 스포츠토토

The national team is expected to confirm its final entry on the 6th, two days before the departure on the 8th. The national team is scheduled to play a practice game with the military athletic unit Sangmu Baseball Team on the 6th. "We will continue to discuss it with the coaching staff and KBO, but we will form the final entry before the practice game with Sangmu on the 6th," Ryu Joong-il said. "It hurts me to hear that I am eliminated, but I will think about it until the end."

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