Doesn’t bold investment in the FA market guarantee entry into fall baseball? The expectations of the 10 club command towers turned away from the clubs that played a big role in the FA market last winter.
KBO held the ‘2023 KBO League Media Day’ held at the Grand Hyatt Seoul Grand Ballroom in Hannam-dong, Yongsan-gu, Seoul on the 30th.
A question was asked to the managers of 10 clubs, ‘Please pick two teams that are likely to meet in fall baseball’. The coaches of the 10 clubs each expressed their thoughts based on their feelings in practice games and demonstration games and last year’s performance.
The most mentioned clubs were LG and KT. The reason was that the pitching staff was strong and the pitching balance was strong. KIA coach Kim Jong-guk said, “I’m trying to pick LG and KT. Touta’s power is stable. I think I will meet the two teams in fall baseball.”
SSG coach Kim Won-hyung also said, “LG KT will play fall baseball. He has a good pitching balance and has a lot of postseason experience.”
Director Kiwoom Hong Won-ki also said, “I felt the leveling of the 9 clubs. I felt that the two teams, LG and KT, were strong. The experience points of the coaches are gathered and the two teams feel stable.”
Doosan coach Lee Seung-yeop said, “I think pitching power is important in baseball, so I think the two teams, KT and LG, will definitely go to the postseason.”
In addition, LG coach Yeom Gyeong-yeop said, “All 10 clubs have good records, but KT and SSG have 5 clear starting cards. Also, the composition of the lineup is good,” said defending champion SSG.
There were also command towers who picked Kiwoom, which caused a sensation in the Korean series last year. NC coach Kang In-kwon said, “Kiwoom and KIA have solid power, and power leveling has been achieved among the upper middle ranks. Fall baseball
is a team that Kiwoom and KIA are likely to meet in fall baseball this year.”
Lotte coach Larry Sutton cited SSG and Kiwoom. He said, “SSG maintains the lineup of last year’s winning team from the previous year. There are a lot of strong lineups and strong pitchers. Kiwoom had a magical season last year. He has a lot of athletic players, and as a team we went through the playoff season.”
Hanwha coach Subero said, “Kiwoom is a team that shows good growth after domestic players come together. LG also noted that the foreign players of the strong batting team are also showing good performances.”
Meanwhile, KT coach Kang-Cheol Lee mentioned Samsung and Hanwha, who received the most points and achieved high scores in the demonstration games, as fall baseball candidates. Director Lee Kang-cheol said, “Thank you for the good evaluation,” and “I think I will meet with Samsung and Hanwha. Since I always come out with my team and LG SSG, I got good results in exhibition matches. There are a lot of potential players, so I made a guess.” 토토사이트
Samsung coach Park Jin-man laughed, saying, “Samsung received a lot of low-ranking points, but I thought it wouldn’t come out.” KT and LG want to play fall baseball together. When it comes to long-term races, the pitching staff should be good, but the pitching staff is good.”
Meanwhile, Lotte, which spent 17 billion won by recruiting Yoo Gang-nam, Noh Jin-hyuk, and Han Hyun-hee, and Doosan, which invested 15.2 billion won by recruiting hostess Yang Eui-ji, were excluded from the fall baseball candidates. No head coach mentioned the two teams. Doosan coach Lee Seung-yeop said, “There was not even a single vote for Doosan. Thank you for the cold evaluation.” He smiled bitterly. In addition, NC, which missed Yang Eui-ji, was also excluded from the fall baseball candidates.