"I felt that I wasn't good enough."" Scary Two-seam → 7K Bang! Lessons from WBC Raised Small Jun Fragrance Soh Hyung-joon [the site of a water source]

*This content was translated by AI.

The 2026 World Baseball Classic (WBC) has helped Korea's top pitcher Soh Hyung-joon (25, KT Wiz) grow further. I realized what I lacked more and immediately moved to the revision, finding a certain outcome ahead of the season's opening.

Soh Hyung-joon started the 2026 KBO exhibition game against the NC Dinos at KT Wiz Park in Suwon on the 21st and pitched 57 pitches, two hits, two walks and seven strikeouts in four innings.

Less than a week after advancing to the 2026 WBC quarterfinals and visiting Miami in the U.S., it was meaningful that he pitched perfectly despite having jet lag problems with the German virus.

After the game, Soh Hyung-joon said, "I feel like I've been sleeping normally and waking up since yesterday. "I woke up almost at 6 a.m. today, but I think I'm getting into the habit of going to bed early and waking up early because of the time difference," he said. "I tried to check my physical condition and balance while throwing about 60 pitches and check my sense of play."

Of course, it is true that the official ball is different and the level is relatively different from that of the batters he faced in the WBC. However, the ball itself felt better than the WBC. The maximum speed of the two-seam reached 150 kilometers per hour, and after the game, coach Lee Kang-chul also said, "Soh Hyung-joon, who has been to the WBC, showed good performance. The starting Soh Hyung-joon admired that the drop in speed and determination was good, and the cutter also improved.

In fact, he struck out as many as seven on the day, and struck out all three batters even after a double by the first batter in the fourth inning, and all the pitches were right-handed hitters' bodies. The batters were stuck.

The WBC effect was half right and half wrong. There are certainly aspects that have helped. Soh Hyung-joon said, "I felt a lot of my own shortcomings (in the WBC) and saw which pitchers had to succeed and what kind of pitches to make in the U.S.," adding, "I'm lacking a lot now, but I think I'll have to pitch in the league because I don't know what's going to happen in the future."

He started against the Czech Republic and pitched three scoreless innings, but in the quarterfinals against the Dominican Republic, Austin Wells (New York Yankees) hit a home run to confirm the cold game. It may be a painful memory, but there is also room for positive thinking.

Soh Hyung-joon said, "If I hadn't been there and finished, I wouldn't have felt this bad, and I don't think I would have felt that I was lacking this much," adding, "I think the biggest harvest is that I felt with my skin and felt that I was lacking a lot."

However, it is difficult to say that the good pitching of the day is entirely a WBC effect. This is because he touched the technical part after returning to the team. Soh Hyung-joon explained, "I didn't feel that the pitching balance was very good in Japan or the United States, but when I came back, I heard advice from coach Je Chun-mo and revised it briefly, and I think that's why I got a better ball than then."

This WBC was an opportunity to develop a dream. Soh Hyung-joon said, "I thought I should keep filling that part because I felt that I was not a satisfied player just because I was good in Korea, but I felt that I was not satisfied because I pitched well and got good results in Korea, but I felt a lot of shortcomings, so I felt that I should be able to show more good performances without complacency in order to become a better player."

There is another international competition this season, but for now, I only look at the team and the league. "First of all, what I have to do is think of the team and throw it, so I don't think having an international competition means I'm going to fit in there," he said. "Now, I'll prepare to keep pitching well in the season in line with the opening game."

The opening is just around the corner. "I think I'm going to throw after the opening, but I'll prepare to show a good performance in the game going out," Soh Hyung-joon said. "I threw about 60 pitches today, so I think I'll pitch about 80 pitches next time."

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*This content was translated by AI.