Three Korean national team players were proudly named in the WBC (World Baseball Classic) prospect rankings that the major leagues should pay attention to. In addition to Lee Jeong-hoo (Kiwoom), who officially announced his entry into the major leagues, there are other notable players.
On the 1st (Korean time), the US’Baseball America’ announced the ranking of’Top 10 prospects to watch for in the 2023 WBC’. ‘Baseball America’ said, “The WBC is more than just a tournament of nations. It is a showcase for the world’s best players to introduce themselves to the crowd and showcase their talents against the best players in MLB.” Year Darvish Yu, Aroldis Chapman, Tanaka Masahiro, Ryu Hyun-jin, and Yuli Gurriel were active in the WBC before emerging in the MLB. Examples of contracts were mentioned.
‘Baseball America’ picked 10 WBC promising prospects who currently do not have contracts with MLB clubs, and said, “Many of them will be in the MLB in the next few years, and some will be future stars like Darvish and Yoannis Cespedes. will be,” he predicted.
The first to third places in the ranking were taken by Japanese players. Loki Sasaki came in first, Yoshinobu Yamamoto came in second, and Munetaka Murakami came in third. Sasaki is considered the ‘ace’ of the Japanese national team to succeed Shohei Otani, and so is Yamamoto. Murakami is a great shot who set a new Japanese single-season home run record.
Among Korean players, Lee Jung-hoo ranked 4th, the highest. And Kang Baek-ho appeared in 7th place and Kim Hye-seong in 9th place respectively. 3 Korean players, 3 Japanese players, 3 Cuban players and 1 Australian player rose in the top 10.
Interest in Kang Baek-ho stands out. This is not the first time Kang Baek-ho has participated in an international competition. He was selected for the Premier 12 national team in 2019, and also played for the Tokyo Olympic team last year. However, he suffered pain at the first Olympics of his life. In a situation where the national team achieved less-than-expected results with a ‘No Medal’, he received a lot of criticism as he chewed gum in the dugout with an expressionless expression right before the bronze medal match was broadcast live. 안전놀이터
Afterwards, Kang Baek-ho apologized for his attitude, and in an interview with reporters even in the situation where he was about to join the WBC team recently, he showed reflection again, saying, “I apologize once again for showing his bad side.” Kang Baek-ho finished his warm-up early by hitting a two-run home run in the national team’s practice game. In this WBC, where Kang Baek-ho is working with a unique mindset, receiving the attention of MLB can be another motivation.