Korean baseball, ‘taking a step backwards’, signals a ‘rebound’
Lee Jeong-hoo (Kiwoom Heroes) and Go Woo-seok (LG Twins), both 25-year-olds, are aiming to advance to the Major League Baseball (MLB) of the American professional baseball league. The Major League Secretariat posted them side by side (private competitive bidding) on the 5th (Korean time). It’s not just these. Kim Hye-seong (24), who plays for Kiwoom like Lee Jeong-hoo, recently announced that he would challenge for the big league after the end of next year’s season.
The big league success of Ryu Hyun-jin (former Toronto Blue Jays, current free agent) and Kim Ha-seong (San Diego Padres) was enough to stimulate the motivation of domestic league players. Hyun-Jin Ryu moved to the Major League at the end of 2012 after playing in the KBO League and posted respectable records of 78 wins, 48 losses, and an ERA of 3.27 so far this year, and Ha-Seong Kim won the Gold Glove (Utility Award) given to the best defender three years after entering the United States. sector). This is the first Asian infielder to receive the award.
In addition to these, the one-time major league performances of Jung-ho Kang (retired), Byeong-ho Park (Katie Wiz), Dae-ho Lee (retired), Hyun-soo Kim (LG), Seung-hwan Oh (Samsung Lions), and Gwang-hyun Kim (SG Landers) are a strong motivation for young players. done. Previously, advancing to the Japanese Professional Baseball (NPB) was an option, but recently the preference for the United States has become stronger. This is because I knew that I would be competitive even if I went directly to the American stage. There are some cases, like this year’s Jang Hyun-seok (Masan Yong Mago), who signed with an American club (LA Dodgers) in their third year of high school, but since 2010, they have gained professional experience in the KB O League and challenged the big league through postings or free agency (FA). The number of cases is increasing.
More people than before are knocking on the door of the big leagues, but this does not mean that the quality of Korean professional baseball has improved. Professional baseball has been stagnant for over 10 years, missing the period of generational change. The 2023 World Baseball Classic (WBC) held in March of this year was a competition that accurately showed the current state of Korean baseball. Korea was thwarted from advancing to the second round by losing against Australia, the first game of the first round group stage. Australia operates a semi-professional league for only three months during the summer. The overall salary cap (maximum of total annual salary) for one club is only around 100 million won, and most of the players have other jobs. The result against Japan was even more disastrous (4–13 loss) to the point of worrying about a cold game. It was a skill gap that could not be overcome with ‘mental strength’ alone.
Among the Japanese national team players, there were players who threw fastballs of over 160 km/h, such as Shohei Otani (free agent) and Roki Sasaki (Chiba Lotte Marines), but the Korean national team did not even have a player who threw 155 km/h. The reality of the national team at the time was that 36-year-old Kim Gwang-hyun (SSG) had no choice but to serve as the national team’s ace, and 37-year-old Park Byeong-ho (KT) had no choice but to serve as the national team’s number 4 hitter. Looking at the individual performance of the 2022 season, which became the standard for forming the World Baseball Classic national team, among the players in the top 15 in home runs, only Lee Jeong-hoo (23, tied for 5th) was in his 20s.
In fact, after winning the gold medal at the 2008 Beijing Olympics and finishing second at the 2009 World Baseball Classic, Korean baseball gradually took a step back. The 9th and 10th teams (NC Dinos, KT Wiz) were founded one after another, but the amateur base was weak. Resources are limited, but as the number of clubs increases, the quality of the league naturally declines. Between 2008 and 2009, the craze for going to the U.S. caused a large number of amateur players to leave the country, which was also a fatal blow. As many as 15 players (6 in 2008, 9 in 2009) signed with American clubs, and among them, Ji-Man Choi (San Diego) is the only player to reach the big league stage. Lee Hak-ju (Lotte), Kim Jae-yoon, and Kim Dong-yup (Samsung), who failed to challenge for the big league, returned to Korea and went through a two-year grace period before being able to play through the rookie draft. He debuted in Korea about 5 years later than his peers.
Under the motto that “offensive baseball is fun,” extreme ‘hit-and-run’ continued for a while, which also became a minus. This soon led to the simplification of the game. The importance of defense to not allow 1 or 2 runs was overlooked, and the running baseball that caught the opponent off guard was missing. The league has lost its diversity and has become standardized into ‘bullshit baseball.’ Young pitchers often got beaten up when they got on the mound, and it became difficult to see a ‘10-win rookie pitcher’. The only rookie pitcher with more than 10 wins since 2007 is So Hyun-jun (13 wins, 6 losses, KT) in 2020. Since 2019, the KBIO secretariat has belatedly started to suppress high pitching pitches by adjusting the recoil coefficient of the official ball and expanding the strike zone.
