“I think it’s powerful now.”

Lee Kang-cheol, coach of the Korean WBC baseball team, recently watched an Australian professional baseball game in person. Only two doubleheaders, after watching a total of four games, returned on the 9th. However, the pitcher who caught my eye as much as the pitcher I saw on the field was appearing on the relay broadcast.

Warwick Saupold (Perth Heat, Australia). He is a familiar pitcher to KBO league fans. He was a foreign pitcher who played for Hanwha in 2019 and 2020. He went 12-11 with a 3.51 ERA in 31 games in 2019, and 10-13 with a 4.91 ERA in 28 games in 2020.

As a result, he could not lead Hanwha’s fall baseball. Ahead of the 2021 season, Hanwha ended its partnership with Saupold when it switched to manager Carlos Subero. After visiting the KBO League, Saupold will play for the Perth Heat in the 2020-2021 season and the 2022-2023 season.

Two years ago, he had an average ERA of 5.74 with 3 wins and 1 loss in 4 games. He’s not that good this season with a 4.85 earned run average of 3 wins and 2 losses in 7 appearances. 0.308 batting average and 1.31 WHIP in 39 innings. He was born in 1990 and is 33 years old, which is not very old, but his grades are not as good as during his time at Hanwha.

Head coach Lee Kang-chul believes that Australia, the first opponent of the WBC round 1, will use Saupold as the starting pitcher. “I don’t think it’s strong at the moment. I am checking.” If it becomes a reality, in Korea, attacking the subfold is more important than attacking Shohei Ohtani (LA Angels) and Yu Darvish (San Diego Padres).

This is because the focus is on Australia rather than Japan. 2nd place in the 1st round advances to the quarterfinals. However, China and the Czech Republic are relatively weak. On the other hand, Japan is one step ahead. It is true that Australia is also inferior, but it is superior to China and the Czech Republic. In other words, if you lose your guard against Australia, you may have to pack your bags without advancing to the second round, let alone advance to the semifinals.

So, during this trip to Australia, coach Lee focused on examining the skills of the pitchers who will play against Korea. In addition, he returned with the Australian league’s style and hitters’ characteristics in his head as much as possible. Coach Lee said, “It is true that the Australian league is inferior to the KBO league.” 메이저사이트

However, coach Lee said, “I think the players who will go to the national team have the skills to work even if they come to the KBO League. The level of the league doesn’t mean much. There are pitchers who throw 150 km. I’m gathering more information, and it seems worth trying.”

Coach Lee expected that Saupold would start against South Korea, but he wasn’t sure. Even if Saupold comes out, there is no guarantee that Korean hitters will attack perfectly. Also, since the tournament has a pitch limit, it is impossible to anticipate and prepare only for the starting pitcher. Coach Lee seems to have selected candidates for Australian pitchers to play against Korea on this trip, but it is not yet clear who will appear. The lineup concept came out, but it is forbidden to be careless.