‘Cuba lost…’ Hanwha, who defeated the Netherlands, read it as hope, not ‘excitement’
The 2023 World Baseball Classic (WBC) finally opened. In the first game of the opening match, the Netherlands defeated Cuba, which is said to be the strongest. Baseball fans are all interested in the WBC, but there is one club that draws attention to the news of the Netherlands’ victory. It is the Hanwha Eagles.
The Netherlands beat Cuba 4-2 in the first leg of Group A in the first round of the 2023 WBC held at Taichung Stadium in Taiwan on the 8th.
All eyes are on Hanwha, who won two consecutive victories over the Netherlands, which captured Cuba. Hanwha won the first game 4-1 and the second game 15-4 against the Dutch national team during the first spring camp held in Arizona, USA last month.
Although he was in the process of improving his physical condition, the strength of the Netherlands could not be ignored. Vladimir Valentin, the main character with the most homers (60) in a single season in Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB), Jonathan Scoop, who plays for the Detroit Tigers in the American Professional Baseball (MLB), and Didi Gregorius, who played a big role in the big leagues, merged with the 2017 KIA Tigers. Roger Bernardina and others who helped win the championship were holding on.
The Netherlands is a strong team that advanced to the semifinals in both 2013 and 2017 and defeated Korea in the first round.
Hanwha ended the second camp with a 3-3 draw with the Samsung Lions that day. The results of the 7 practice matches played in the 1st and 2nd camps were 5 wins, 1 loss, 1 draw, and the winning rate was 0.833. Looking back, I was able to find a different aspect of Hanwha from the two consecutive matches against the Netherlands.
On the mound in the first game, second-year Shin Sung Moon Dong-ju threw a fiery fastball with a maximum speed of 156 km/h, blocking the Dutch lineup with two scoreless innings, while Jang Jin-hyeok and Lee Jin-young took the lead in defeating the Netherlands side by side with multi-hits.
In the second game, Roh Si-hwan hit a two-run home run and Kim In-hwan raged with 2 hits and 1 RBI in 2 at-bats. In addition, the batting line exploded as a whole and harassed the Dutch pitching staff with a large number of goals. Among the pitchers, Felix Pena blocked it well with 1 run in 2 innings based on a 152km fastball.
A Hanwha official said that the Dutch national team, facing pitchers such as Moon Dong-ju and Pena, who easily sprayed the 150 km range, showed quite a bit of embarrassment. These were two games that alerted the Netherlands, who must have planned to prepare for the WBC by improving their condition against the bottom team in the KBO League.
On the other hand, Hanwha, which gained confidence, moved to Okinawa, Japan, and achieved satisfactory results against domestic teams with 3 wins, 1 loss and 1 draw in 5 matches. 카지노
Change is producing good results. With the recruitment of free agent (FA) outfielder Chae Eun-seong, infielder Oh Seon-jin, and pitcher Lee Tae-yang from the Stove League, internal competition for each position intensified, and through this process, the player base was further strengthened. In addition, coach Carlos Subero explained that the newly joined veterans are bringing various synergies with experience to the team.
In addition, new pitchers and infielders Kim Seo-hyun and Moon Hyun-bin, who joined this camp, and other young players grew rapidly and made the command tower smile.
Captain Jung Woo-ram said, “It’s always difficult to pick one (as an expected player) at this time. More than half of them stand out. It’s a time when you can exclaim, ‘This player is good, I’m looking forward to it’, but I try to refrain as much as possible.” “The expectations are growing little by little. The new and the old are in harmony and the balance is getting right. A lot of good newcomers have also come in. When these players are sluggish, it will be better if the veterans give results.
Not only the command tower and the team, but also the reporters and fans who accompanied the team to the United States and Okinawa, are optimistic that Hanwha will be different this year.
Of course, it is not advisable to make hasty judgments because the demonstration game has not yet started, but with positive signals appearing in various fields, expectations are growing that Hanwha will be able to show a more advanced appearance this season compared to previous years.