"No pitcher knows how to fight like Ryu Hyunjin."" Korean Baseball Is Not a Problem of 'Only the World's Lowest Binding [Maybe baseball says ①]

*This content was translated by AI.

At the 2026 World Baseball Classic (WBC), the Korean national baseball team realized the world's wall.

South Korea was blocked by Christopher Sanchez (30, Dominican Republic), a left-hander with an average speed of 95.2 miles per hour (about 153.2 kilometers) in the second round of the tournament, which went up for the first time in nine years, and suffered a cold game loss in the seventh inning. With Sanchez's high-speed sinker, good-angle slider and change-up, Korean hitters swung and missed as many as 18 times. After returning home, Korean hitters tongue-in-cheeked that the ball was "different."

Arrest was an indicator of the gap between the world and Korean baseball. According to Baseball Servant, a U.S. baseball statistics media outlet, the average speed of Korean pitchers in the fastball series (four-seam fastballs, sinkers, and cutters) was 90.1 miles per hour, ranking 18th among the 20 teams in the finals and the lowest in the world. The gap was significant with 95.6 miles per hour (about 153.9 kilometers) in the first-place Dominican Republic, as well as 94 miles (about 151.3 kilometers) in Japan and 92.9 miles (about 149.5 kilometers) in Taiwan in eighth place.

But seek only quick restraint Some point out that it neglects the basics of pitchers such as the completeness of breaking balls and ball control. This is why top prospects who fly and wait on the amateur stage cannot immediately stand out on the professional stage. High school manager A said on the phone with Star News after the end of 2026 WBC, "I don't think there was a pitcher who knew how to fight like Ryu Hyun-jin. Even if it's not a fast ball, you have to be a pitcher who knows how to fight the batter, but there are not many such players these days. In the past WBC tournament, Ryu Hyun-jin and Yoon Seok-min were not very fast pitchers. But he cooked major league players with changeups and sliders. Kim Byung-hyun, Bong Jung-geun, Kim Sun-woo, and Koo Dae-sung also made good results by preoccupying the advantageous ball count. But these days, I've never seen pitchers take advantage of the ball count itself," he said.

"These days, if you get a lot of speed, you get a draft. Pitchers who threw 150 kilometers per hour in the past were successful because they knew how to fight batters. But these days, I only focus on performance because I think speed is all I need. He pointed out that such details disappear and only wildly use their strength and then injuries come out.

In other words, the world's lowest-level restraint is not the only problem. At one point, Korean baseball focused on fast-binding in selecting and fostering promising pitchers. The intention was to save prospects who can throw more than 155km/h every few years in a situation where the players are not as thick as the U.S. and Japan.

However, it was not easy for fastball prospects to have control as expected. On the contrary, in Japanese and Taiwanese baseball, Korean baseball is torn as fastball pitchers with control are steadily emerging. Again, domestic and foreign scouts are looking for a pitcher with a breaking ball completion and control, even if his arrest is a little disappointing. I've only thrown it once or twice a year, and I'm not deceived by the maximum restraint. It is calculated that the restraints that do not come out immediately can be filled to some extent through physical growth and improvement of the pitching mechanism.

Perhaps in the field of baseball, ball control and restraint are no longer a matter of choice in fostering players. A major league scout B said, "I keep talking about arrest at the end of international competitions, but honestly, Korean prospects fall the most. It is true that restraint is a really big factor in overpowering batters. However, I don't think Korea lost because of the lack of restraint in this WBC," he pointed out.

"I see a lot of players trying to force their pitches to get into the professional league. Like NPB players, he can increase his speed. However, compared to NPB players, his ball control is significantly lower. We need to find a way to take control and restraint together. In that sense, it is regrettable that the institutional arrangement that prevents Korean prospects from entering overseas markets is also felt. I should be able to learn a lot in an environment where I can grow further, but I'm complacent," he said.

[Probably baseball says] Is it only a matter of Korean baseball's world-lowest arrest

① "No pitcher knows how to fight like Ryu Hyun-jin." It's not a matter of "only the world's lowest arrest" in Korean baseball

② "It's not a repetitive training answer." Throw a lot of balls for good control? Korea Baseball Prejudice Breaks... U.S. Baseball Noting Variability

③ 172cm Yamamoto's 159km fastball 'How' without weight... A different level of training for the U.S. and Korea prospects were also impressed.

④ "There are many players who throw 150km." Fastball Bubble Made by Namu Bat, Korean Baseball Trapped in Paradigm 22 years ago

<© STARNEWS. All rights reserved. No reproduction or redistribution allowed.>

*This content was translated by AI.