Coach Kim Taek-yeon's batting hit made him even more angry!→ 'Finger pain' Kim Joo-won immediately replaced, and 'every day' dries up due to injury concerns [Okinawa Station]

*This content was translated by AI.

Ten days before the 2026 World Baseball Classic (WBC), the Korean national baseball team is experiencing blood drying every day due to injury concerns.

The national team beat the KIA Tigers 6-3 in the fourth practice game of the 2026 World Baseball Classic (WBC) held at Kadena Baseball Stadium in Kadena, Okinawa Prefecture, Japan on the 24th.

He hit the KIA mound with 11 hits. Park Hae-min was active with three hits and two RBIs in three at-bats, including two doubles, while Noh Si-hwan, Moon Hyun-bin and Kim Joo-won also made multi-hits, respectively, showing a strong sense of hitting.

Ryu Ji-hyun, head coach of the national team, met with reporters after the game, said, "The batting quality of batters improves little by little. In addition, there were a lot of very good hits in the left-center and right-center directions. "It's impressive that the batting balance improves," he said.

Kim Joo-won, Park Hae-min, Moon Bo-kyung, and Ahn Hyun-min were good. At the end, Roh Si-hwan was expected to hit a slider toward right field. Noh Si-hwan is a player who needs to hit to the right."

Initially, the game was scheduled to run until the end of the seventh inning regardless of victory or defeat, as in the last three games. However, there was a variable in the bottom of the third inning when Kim Joo-won was replaced by Kim Ho-jin (Sangmu) due to an injury.

In the bottom of the third inning, Kim Joo-won hit a two-run timely hit that penetrated between the first and second bases with two outs and runners on second and third bases. In this process, I overrun and returned to first base, and I felt pain in my left little finger. He was replaced to protect the player, and fortunately, he was not injured enough to go to the hospital.

One more dizzying situation was created. Kim Taek-yeon was hit with a glove by KIA's Jerid Dale with one out in the top of the fifth inning. At that time, Kim Kwang-sam, the national team's pitching coach, was surprised and headed to the mound. Kim Taek-yeon sent coach Kim Kwang-sam back to the dugout as if it wasn't a big deal.

Head coach Ryu Ji-hyun said, "Kim Taek-yeon has good quickness, so I blocked it with a glove. Kim Joo-won also got on base today and took it out early. I'm glad," he said.

Ryu Ji-hyun-ho has already lost seven players. Tommy Edman (LA Dodgers) was the first to undergo surgery and was excluded. Song Sung-moon (San Diego Padres), Kim Ha-sung (Atlanta Braves), Choi Jae-hoon, Moon Dong-ju (Hanwha Eagles), Won Tae-in (Samsung Lions), and Riley O'Brien (St. Louis Cardinals) left in turn.

In a practice game against Hanwha the previous day (23rd), Ahn Hyun-min (KT Wiz) was immediately replaced by a 147K-per-hour fastball on his thigh. It is possible to replace the injured person before the competition, but any further injuries are difficult.

Just in time, the players' physical conditions can be checked again on the 25th as a day of rest. After that, they will go to Samsung on the 26th, KT on the 27th, and Osaka on the 28th for the last warm-up match against the Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB) teams.

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*This content was translated by AI.