Qualifications are sufficient. However, we cannot help but consider the variable called the World Baseball Classic (WBC). SSG coach Kim Won-hyung is contemplating whether Kim Gwang-hyeon (35) will start for the opening game.
SSG players who returned from participating in the WBC will participate in demonstration games one by one. Choi Jeong and Choi Ji-hoon were listed side by side in the lineup against Hanwha in Daejeon on the 20th, and Kim Gwang-hyun is also planning to start on the 21st.
SSG coach Kim Won-hyeong said, “Both Choi Jeong and Choi Ji-hoon will play today, ahead of the exhibition game against Hanwha held at Daejeon Hanwha Life Insurance Eagles Park on the 20th. Choi Jeong-eun is the designated hitter number 3, and Choi Ji-hoon is the number 1 hitter center fielder. This is his first exhibition appearance since returning from the WBC.”
From the national team camp to the WBC, the national team players have traveled between the United States and Japan, but there is no major problem with the beast. I have plenty of time until April 1, the opening day, and I have already improved my condition in line with the actual match. The key is the pitcher, especially the starting pitcher. In the first round of the WBC, there was a pitch limit of 65 pitches, and the national team played in the direction of putting several pitchers. A starting pitcher who raises the number of pitches and innings in a real game in March will inevitably break the preparation routine for the season.
SSG coach Kim Won-hyung was also concerned about this. As the preparation process is different, I have not yet been able to give a definite answer about Kim Gwang-hyun’s starting appearance in the opening game.
Coach Kim said, “I’m thinking about starting the opening game. He personally thinks that it is possible,” he said, “before the WBC, he steadily built his body from the off-season. He pitched in the WBC, so I think his game feel will be fine. However, he played less in real life than usual. A starting pitcher usually has to fill up the number of pitches by appearing 3 or 4 times in March. Didn’t go through this process. What Kim Gwang-hyun thinks after tomorrow’s pitch is also important. We’ll hear what he thinks after tomorrow’s game.”
The opening game of the KBO League is a feast for foreign pitchers. Most clubs select a foreign pitcher as the starting pitcher for the opening game. It is judged that foreign pitchers are better than native pitchers in terms of skill and durability.
SSG is one of the few teams where a native pitcher serves as the first starter and ace. Kim Gwang-hyun took the starting point of the pennant race as a starting pitcher for the opening game several times before. He took to the mound as an Opening Day starter in 2014 and 2016, and at Home in Literature in 2019. SSG faces KIA in literature on April 1, the opening day.
Other than SSG, Kiwoom and Hanwha can send native pitchers to the opening game. Last year, Kiwoom also dropped Ahn Woo-jin as the starter for the opening match. It is likely to start the opening game for two consecutive years. Hanwha has sent a native pitcher to the opening game since 2021, when manager Carlos Subero took the helm.메이저사이트 Kim Min-woo has been in charge of the opening game selection for two consecutive years in 2021 and 2022.