"Shock Cold Game Defeat" Painful tuition fee, "It's not a skill to hit hard." Second baseman Troubac-GGG realized

*This content was translated by AI.

"I thought Domino's players would hit home runs during practice batting because they have good physical strength..."

It is a common error when there is not much information about Major League Baseball (MLB). I think big leaguers will only be strong. Still, some in the domestic baseball community say that technology is not much different from major leaguers. However, it is a big mistake.

For Park Hae-min (36, LG Twins), who has been through a lot of life, the World Baseball Classic (WBC) stage was a valuable experience to change his mind about baseball.

In addition to his abundant experience on the domestic stage, he has played in the Asian Games, Olympics, and even 2023 WBC, but there was a big difference from this WBC. Three years ago, there was a big difference in the class of players who played only in the group stage. For Park Hae-min, who played baseball for nearly 30 years three years ago because he had not played against world-class teams except Japan, the tournament also opened his eyes anew.

Park Hae-min met with reporters ahead of the 2026 KBO exhibition game against SSG Landers at SSG Landers Field in Incheon on the 19th and expressed his feelings about going to WBC.

Park Hae-min, who got only one at-bat opportunity in three games behind prominent players including Lee Jung-hoo (San Francisco), Germai Jones (Detroit), and Ahn Hyun-min (KT), said, "It was a really good experience. It would have been better if I had played in the game, but just being able to work out there was a very valuable experience for me, he said. "I also felt a lot while watching Dominica players practice. I had a good experience just by seeing and learning," he said.

There are also top-class big league players in Japan, including Shohei Ohtani, Yoshinobu Yamamoto (L.A. Dodgers), and Seiya Suzuki (Chicago Cubs), but the Dominican Republic, which advanced to the second round for the first time in 17 years, was completely different.

The batting lineup, which boasted so powerful that all batters in the starting lineup had experience hitting 20 home runs in a single season, tormented Korean pitchers and gave them a 0-10 cold game defeat. Despite Ryu Hyun-jin (Hanwha)'s calculated pitching with artistic control, there was no way to produce a hit by rolling up the ball that fell low. Moreover, it was natural for pitchers who were facing batters at this level for the first time to struggle with embarrassment.

Even as a batter, Dominican batters were surprised. However, it was not just power that Park Hae-min admired. "Dominica left a deep impression on all the batters in their heads," he said. "I thought Dominican players would hit home runs during practice batting because they have good strength and physicality, but they didn't hit it at all."

Training with thorough calculations. "(Fernando) Tatis Jr., (Juan) Soto and (Manny) Machado hit the ball in the direction they wanted to hit with their own direction. "Our national team players also had conversations among the fielders that hitting hard and far was not everything, so it was quite impressive because Dominican players were practicing completely contrary to what we thought."

Shin Min-jae (30), who won the second baseman's Golden Glove during his career high season last year, was fascinated by Junior Caminero (23, Tampa Bay).

"What impressed me was Caminero. I saw him play free batting, and it seemed like he was playing golf alone when the ball flew away. He was really good at it," he said. "I was surprised once more when I heard his age. I think it's great. I thought I was in my mid-30s," he said with a smile.

It's not just about mature looks. It also means that he doesn't look like a young hitter at all, given his outstanding skills and skill in leading the game. In fact, Caminero only started playing full season in the Major League last year, and he is receiving the most attention by hitting 45 home runs and 110 RBIs in 154 games.

In this competition, he contributed to the runner-up by leading the Dominican batters with Vladimir Guerrero Jr. (Toronto) and Tatis Jr. with a batting average of 0.350 (7 hits in 20 at-bats), three homers, seven RBIs and five runs, and an on-base percentage of 0.409, and an on-base percentage of 0.850, and OPS (on-base percentage + slugging percentage) of 1.259 in six games.

Song Seung-ki (24), the only one who returned without playing a single game, said he wanted to throw it at least once, but shared the meaning that just watching it helped a lot. Song Seung-ki fell in love with Dominican starter Christopher Sanchez (30, Philadelphia) and Japanese pitcher Ito Hiromi (29, Nippon Ham).

For players who have only played in the KBO League, WBC has become a valuable stage to broaden their perspective on baseball. Park Hae-min said, "Baseball is really difficult, and I think I have to learn until the end and even after retirement," adding, "That doesn't mean there's nothing to learn (because I have a lot of experience). I think all players will be like that," he said, showing a humble attitude.

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*This content was translated by AI.