*This content was translated by AI.
Despite being tired of the long-distance flight, KT Wiz and the sidearm ace, who represents South Korea, looked brilliant. Ko Young-pyo (35) confirmed his ball on the world stage and expressed his expectations for this season.
Ko Young-pyo recently met with reporters at Suwon KT Wiz Park and said, "My physical condition is better than I thought. It was very heavy when I arrived in the United States, but I'm fine today," he said with a smile.
The Korean national baseball team, led by head coach Ryu Ji-hyun, returned home on the morning of the 16th with the result of advancing to the second round (the quarterfinals) at the 2026 World Baseball Classic (WBC). In the final Group C match in the first round, he dramatically broke through the number of cases in which he had to win by two runs or less and five points or more and took a chartered flight to Miami, USA. In the quarterfinals against the Dominican Republic after a short break of four days, including flight time, he lost the cold game by giving up 10 points without scoring in the seventh inning.
There was also a big difference in skills from Dominica, where all major league stars participated, but fatigue from long-distance flights was also the reason why it could not be ignored. Ko Young-pyo said, "Honestly, I felt really heavy and sleepy for two days after arriving in the United States. At first, Witcom or (Kim) Hyesung looked heavy in Japan. At that time, I couldn't sympathize with the players because they said they were having a hard time adjusting to the time difference, but when I went to Miami, I really sympathized with them," he said.
He said, "I was playing catchball, but I felt like my body was sleeping and only my mind was awake. No matter how chartered, the seat was also uncomfortable with a slide feeling, and Miami was definitely far away," he added.
Even under bad conditions, Ko Young-pyo was one of the players who showed good pitching. He took the mound in the bottom of the fourth inning, when South Korea was trailing 0-7, and faced Vladimir Guerrero Jr. (Toronto Blue Jays), Manny Machado (San Diego Padres), and O'Neill Cruz (Pittsburg Pirates). Guerrero Jr. has 183 home runs in the major leagues, Machado 369 home runs, and Cruz 60 home runs.
Ko Young-pyo used his main weapon change-up to draw swings and misses three times against them, and pitched scoreless innings with three outs. A total of 12 pitches were thrown with 7 change-ups and 5 four-seam fastballs, but even major league sluggers could hardly get the timing.
In response, Ko Young-pyo replied, "I thought the change-up, which falls to the species of side-arm pitchers, would be unfamiliar to them, so I thought it would be worth trying at least one at-bat." "I focused on my pitching without thinking about the name value or ransom of the hitters. But Cruz was so tall (about 201 centimeters) that I was surprised because he felt like he was meeting a different hitter."
Above all, I was glad that it was pitching that completely shook off the disappointment of the Korea-Japan match. Ko Young-pyo took the mound as the starting pitcher against Japan in the group stage and was sluggish with three hits (three home runs) and one walk, four strikeouts and four runs in two ⅔ innings.
At this time, he mainly threw curves, not main weapon changeups, according to the catcher's lead, but the results were not good, allowing only three home runs. Ko Young-pyo said, "It was good to go to the finals and it was better to have a chance to make up for the Japanese match. While waiting for the bullpen, I thought a lot about how to deal with it. "I was so disappointed to have two home runs with curves against Japan, and I thought let's throw more changeups than curves," he said.
"I wanted to throw a lot of changeups. "I was wondering how I would react to the change-up because I felt sorry for the match against Japan (which I didn't), and it was good to be able to refresh (with good results)."
At that time, there were many opinions that Ko Young-pyo wanted to throw more as big league hitters were also helpless. In response, Ko Young-pyo said, "I wanted to throw all the pitches I could. Wasn't there a line-up of players who were treated as much as Major League players at the Major League Baseball Stadium and received a great salary in the Major League. "I wanted to throw all the pitches because it was such an opportunity to be able to compete with such people, regardless of respect," he said with a smile.
Ko Young-pyo, who returned after leaving a regret, renewed his mind as Suwon's pride and KT's ace. In the match against the Kiwoom Heroes in Suwon on the 20th, he took the mound for the first time in a KT uniform and showed perfect pitching with two hits, no outs, and four strikeouts in four innings.
Unlike in previous years, there is a great concern that players perform poorly because they build up and throw balls early in the year when there is a WBC. However, Ko Young-pyo looked forward to the 2026 season, recalling the memories of the last tournament. Coincidentally, Ko Young-pyo, who participated in the WBC for the first time in 2023, spent his career high season with 12 wins, 7 losses and a 2.78 ERA in 28 regular-season games.
Ko Young-pyo, who recalled this time, said, "I only went to Japan in 2023, but this time, I went to the U.S. and the competition ended later, so it is difficult to prepare for the season. Still, looking back, I had a career high season when I was on WBC. So there is also a positive thought that it might not be bad to raise your body condition a little early. I'm starting with fatigue, but I think it can be positive in terms of the sense of the game and I'm looking forward to it slightly this year," he said with strength.
<© STARNEWS. All rights reserved. No reproduction or redistribution allowed.>
*This content was translated by AI.
