"Oh, my God!' Two home runs hit Ko Woo-seok, it turned out that he was a minor prospect in Single A and Double A→What should I do with WBC

*This content was translated by AI.

Ko Woo-seok (28, minor under the Detroit Tigers), who is scheduled to join the World Baseball Classic (WBC) in March, accepted a shocking report card as he hit two home runs from the first game of the exhibition game. Since it was the second half of the game, concerns are growing over the disappointing appearance of minor league prospects, not major hitters. It must be bad news for the national team ahead of the first round of the WBC.

Ko Woo-seok bowed his head with four hits (two homers) and one strikeout and four runs (four earned) in ⅔ innings, allowing two home runs in the away game of the 2026 Major League Baseball exhibition game between the New York Yankees and the 2026 Major League Baseball at George M. Steinbrenner Field in Tampa, Florida. He played only one game, but his ERA reached a whopping 54.00.

The most painful part is the face of hitters who allowed home runs. As soon as Ko Woo-seok took the mound with the bases loaded with one out in the bottom of the eighth inning, trailing 3-13, he was attacked by Roderick Arias, the first batter, with a 94.3-mile-high fastball, allowing a grand slam over the right-center fence. Arias is a single-A-level prospect under the Yankees.

He led Marco Luciano to a groundout to the second base and got two outs, but allowed Jorbit Vivas to hit to the middle field, sending out a runner. Ko Woo-seok, who also gave a left-handed hit to Peyton Henry and sent a runner to the scoring position, bowed his head to Jackson Castillo, who was a member of Double-A last season, once again, for a three-run home run. It was a 93.4-mile (about 150.3km) ball that was not a real pitch attached to the body, but the ball went over the fence. After that, Ko Woo-suk ended the inning by striking out Tyler Hardman with a swing and miss.

This slump is also a major negative factor for Ryu Ji-hyun-ho's national team, which is set to play in the first round of the WBC in March. Ko Woo-suk is expected to play a key role in the national team's bullpen by raising his physical condition in Saipan camp and other places. However, considering the sophisticated Japanese and Taiwanese hitters to meet at Tokyo Dome, the current pitch that has been hurt by minor prospects is a clear red flag.

However, if you look at the situation of the game, Ko Woo-seok took the mound in a bit of a hurry on the day. This is because right before Ko Woo-seok, pitcher Matt Schillinger gave up one hit and four walks while throwing 24 pitches, failing to catch only one out count. The fact that he took the mound without a sufficient warm-up process in an unexpected bases-loaded crisis seems to have become toxic. He was not scheduled to take the mound, but he may have suddenly taken the mound.

Currently, Ko Woo-seok signed a minor league contract with Detroit and hit the "double-double-double" to make his big league debut. But the first button was too heavy. There is not much time left until the opening of the WBC. Attention is focusing on whether Ko Woo-seok, who has to bear the pride of Korean baseball, will be able to regain the prestige of the "Korean firefighter" by quickly recovering his arrest and ball power for the rest of the year.

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*This content was translated by AI.