Training together, but 'someone is eliminated'... "You have to be 100% on March 5th". It's all up to you [At Saipan]

*This content was translated by AI.

A national team with only the best players in the league. However, more prominent players will be added to this. Someone has no choice but to drop out. Ryu Ji-hyun (55), head coach of the national baseball team, emphasized "100% condition" based on that standard.

The first training session of the World Baseball Classic (WBC) first camp was held early in the morning at the Saipan Oleye Sports Complex on the 10th. Systematic training was conducted by dividing the pitching group and the fielders group, and even in the heat of over 30 degrees Celsius, the players were busy moving and improving their condition.

A place where only the best players are gathered to the point where no one can blame themselves. Ironically, however, there are no choice but to be a player who cannot head to the WBC finals. There are 31 people heading to the camp, and Lee Jung-hoo (San Francisco) and Kim Ha-sung (Atlanta), as well as Korean foreign players Riley O'Brien (St. Louis) and Germay Johnson (Detroit), are expected to join.

The WBC is a competition that takes place before the KBO League or Major League regular season, and it must be improved faster. To this end, the players were called up in order to support them to build their bodies in warm areas.

However, on the contrary, it was unclear how much of the actual training would cover up the jade. Coach Ryu Ji-hyun emphasized, "Conditions are the most important thing than international competition performance or name value."

Manager Ryu said, "There may be fielders, but I think there will be some players who can't be selected from the pitcher's side," but added, "But the players also know that, so when interviewing, they say, 'I don't know if I'll go in the end, but I'll do this,' and I'm so grateful for that expression from the manager's point of view."

It is an expression of gratitude that the players themselves know and are preparing to accept the situation in which they have to be eliminated.

You shouldn't overdo it, but what's clear is that you have to be able to perform at your best when you play the main tournament. Earlier, there is a consensus that the KBO League should meet the expectations even more as it drew 12 million spectators for the first time in Korean professional sports history.

Coach Ryu said, "That scale will come out when we send it back here. At this rate, we will see what stage the players will take when they go to the team and gather on February 15th, he said. "I don't think much about throwing 30 pitches or one inning for the bullpen, but the starters have to raise the number of pitches and need the process. The schedule for the game (during the second camp) is all out. You have to be prepared to some extent then. Even if I go back to the team, I always talk about that and try to communicate," he explained.

There is a dilemma. As it is the stage of building the body, if you are in a hurry, you can suffer from injuries, but you have to quickly improve your condition to be competitive.

Nevertheless, Ryu shook his head. "They'll take care of themselves. It's not a matter of 'training like this, do it like that'. They will have thoughts about their own bodies, and we just have to look at them from the side and make an accurate diagnosis, he said. "Even if we send them back after training, we have about 10 days before submitting the final list. I'm not just sorting it out here, but I'll communicate with the club about how I'm doing for about 10 days even when I go back and watch the situation," he said.

"It's not 'I became a body' or 'I can throw about 30 pitches', but it's important whether I can throw 30 pitches 100% on March 5." That's why I'm here," he added.

The players will be determined by the 3rd of next month, the deadline for submitting the final entry, after they build up their bodies in Saipan by the 21st and the players return to each team. Then, from the 15th to the 28th, they will gather again in Okinawa, Japan, for practical training focusing on practice games and prepare for the first group match of the WBC against the Czech Republic on March 5.

Since it is difficult to replace the list after that, the plan is to choose players who are expected to be 100% conditioned in the first game of the tournament by looking at the training process.

There is also a reason why players who think they have a clear position cannot relax more. In addition to the 35 preliminary entries, the possibility of selection is also open.

Coach Ryu said, "Asian Games and Olympics have to be listed early on to the organizing committee, and to replace them, there must be some justification, such as injuries," adding, "WBC is the same, but it is a little more flexible." (Preliminary entry) You have to decide within 35 people It's not like this. I submitted 35 people to the organizing committee in my own way, but I don't mean that I will do it unconditionally."

"There should be some justification, but when there is a problem in it, we have to find another alternative," he said, adding, "I thought a lot about it when choosing 35 people. If you go back to 120 people, 80 people, 50 people, 35 people at first, there were these processes up to the last 30 people. It's not an easy decision. I've been following such a procedure all year. That's why you have to make a better choice. That's how it becomes a fight," he stressed.

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*This content was translated by AI.