Reporter Kim Joo-hee = The Australian national team, which the Korean national baseball team will meet for the first time at the 2023 World Baseball Classic (WBC), took off the veil.
The WBC Secretariat announced the list of players from 20 countries participating in the 2023 WBC on the 10th (Korean time).
The face of the Australian national team, which will play the first match of Group B round 1 against Korea at the Tokyo Dome in Japan on the 9th of next month, was also revealed.
Of the final 30-man roster, two are from the major leagues.
One of them, Warwick Saupold (Perth Heat), is a name familiar to Korean fans.
Saupold, who wore a Hanwha Eagles uniform in the 2019-2020 season and played the KBO League, recorded 22 wins, 24 losses and an average ERA of 4.16 in 59 games.
In the major leagues, he played for the Detroit Tigers in the 2016-2018 season and recorded an average ERA of 4.98 with 8 wins, 4 losses, 3 holds, and 1 save in 82 games.
He has recently been playing in his home league, the Australian Professional Baseball League (ABL).
Aaron Whitefield (LA Angels), who made his debut in the big leagues in 2020, is the only Australian national team to be listed on the 40-man roster in the major leagues.
However, Whitefield has yet to report his first hit, going 0-for-12 in eight games of his major league career. Last year, in the minor league double-A, he recorded a batting average of 0.262, 9 home runs and 38 RBIs in 79 games.
Among minor leaguers, Kansas City Royals prospect Robbie Glendining stands out the most. Glendining earned a batting average of 0.252 with 19 homers and 76 RBIs in 118 games at Double-A last year.
Liam Hendricks (Chicago White Sox), who was initially expected to participate in the WBC, was not allowed to board early due to a diagnosis of non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, a type of blood cancer. 슬롯사이트
MLB.com evaluated the Australian national team list as “it does not seem to be the strongest power in the WBC tournament”, but also noted the possibility by analyzing that it “surprised Mexico by winning 17-7 in the 2009 tournament.”
Starting with the game against Australia, Korea will compete to pass the first round in 14 years.
Coach Lee Kang-chul (KT Wiz), who leads the Korean national team, emphasized the importance of playing against Australia, the first opponent, several times. He added meaning, “If we beat Australia, the first game, the players can enter without any burden, so I want to win.”
It is a calculation that after winning the game against Australia, they will raise their spirits and face Japan on the 10th, the Czech Republic on the 12th and China on the 13th.
If you finish in the top 2 of your group in the first round, you can advance to the quarterfinals.
As the strength of the Czech Republic and China is not strong, the possibility of advancing to the quarterfinals can be greatly increased if the team beats Australia as coach Lee calculated.