‘The Way of Baseball’ Witnessed in Japan
Kang Young-sik is one of the bullpen pitchers who represented the KBO League. He recorded 116 holds in 750 league games and left the highest WAR among the Lotte Giants left-hander bullpen.
After retirement, he transformed into a leader and taught junior players at the Samsung Lions and Lotte. After standing in the middle of Korean baseball for more than 20 years, he suddenly crossed the sea. The destination is the Rakuten Golden Eagles of the Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB).
사진 확대 Photo = Courtesy of Coach Kang Young-sik himself
He was curious. How does Japan constantly produce good pitchers. What makes the gap between Korean and Japanese pitchers. In order to find the answer, he went back to Kang Young-sik, a trainee, not an athlete or a coach. I started playing baseball again in an unfamiliar place where I couldn’t communicate a word.
What coach Kang witnessed there was not just a difference in training methods. From the moment they entered the camp, the standards of preparation that were different, the attitude of the players constantly confirming their shortcomings, the perspective of looking at the amount of training, and the way they consume data. They played the same baseball, but they had different approaches to growth.
What coach Kang paid attention to was the attitude that Japanese baseball emphasized to the players. “A player who grows on his own”. It’s not “throwing 30 pitches, so it’s over” but thinking about it until you make a satisfactory 30 pitches, recording the data and designing the next training for yourself.
Coach Kang faced a question that Korean baseball was missing in the process. I heard the difference between baseball in the two countries from Coach Kang, who returned from training.
사진 확대 With Japanese baseball legend pitcher Kenta Maeda. Photo = Courtesy of Coach Kang Young-sik himself
“How will a good pitcher be made?”
Japanese training team left to find the answer
How did you choose Japanese baseball training?
I was very interested in Japanese baseball. “Why do Japan keep having good pitchers?” In particular, I was wondering how the Rakuten Golden Eagles fostered pitchers like Masahiro Tanaka and Yuki Matsui. The completeness of Japanese players is already quite high. Compared to the United States, I felt that it was not far behind. On the contrary, there is a gap in pitching power between Korea and Japan. I wanted to see the details of how Japan continues to make good pitchers.
Did Japan gladly accept it.
It’s not easy to get training as an individual. When I met Rakuten in Japan when I was a Samsung coach, I seriously said, “If I have a chance, I would like to receive training in the future,” which led to a connection.
Was there any fear.
사진 확대 Photo = Courtesy of Coach Kang Young-sik himself
Of course, I was afraid to meet new people in unfamiliar cultures and environments. Not now, but I couldn’t speak Japanese at all at the time. I’ve only memorized greetings since a month before I joined the camp. I wanted to show my sincerity to breathe and learn together.
Did it work.
At the camp, “I’m Kang Young-sik, a trainee from Korea. I came to learn your know-how and wisdom as much as possible, and I will be a helpful trainee. Please feel free to use me,” he said without an interpreter. I think they also recognized my sincerity at that time.
사진 확대 With Rakuten Eagles players. Photo = Courtesy of Coach Kang Young-sik himself
How was the Japanese camp.
The Japanese camp is not ‘a place to build your body and prepare for the season’. The players have a deep thought, “If you prepare the same way, you can only achieve the same performance as last season.” In Japan, a pitcher with a maximum speed of 150km/h joins the team with a body that can throw 145-148km/h from the first day of camp. In the camp, we think about and practice ways to raise our performance to the next level, such as pitching design, new pitches, and command precision. On the other hand, Korean players often come into camps and improve their physical condition. The starting point for preparing for the season itself is different.
South Korea to throw only 30 balls, Japan to make 30 balls
“What an incomplete player needs is a sheep (量) after all.”
There is a lot of misunderstanding that Japanese baseball is ‘harsh’.
Half right and half wrong.
It’s wrong?
It’s not blind overwork, it’s the persistence created by Deficiency. We need to see the essence of why Japanese pitchers still throw a lot of balls. What surprised me the most when I saw the pitchers on the first day of camp was that they still had a lot of pitches. bullpen pitchers also threw back-to-back pitches and used to throw additional 40 to 50 pitches during the practice process. At first, I thought, ‘What if they get hurt?’ so I asked a lot of questions to the coaches.
What did you say.
They say they’ve done their own pitching. If you make a choice by checking your physical condition and judging it, you don’t stop it. There’s a kind of lack of Japanese players constantly trying to check their growth. It’s a positive motivation, and it leads to consistent habits and efforts. In Korea, even when pitching a bullpen, there are cases where it is “the end because we filled 30 quotas today.” Even if there’s something lacking, it’s over when you fill in the numbers. I’ve rarely seen such a player in Japan. It’s much more important to make ’30 pitches and trajectories that you can be satisfied with yourself’ than throwing 30. In the end, it can be seen that the heart and attitude of the players themselves are the key.
It means that a good direction and a sufficient amount of training should go together.
I heard this a lot there. “Management is what the top players do. If a player who is not yet complete has found a good direction, then it is unconditionally “Yang”. How do you know what suits you without even trying?”
You’ll nod to “How do you know without even trying it?”
The Japanese players don’t consider the process ‘harsh’. In addition to pitching, there is basically a lot of personal training such as conditioning and various training. The preparation process is done outside the mound, and the consistency of the results is checked on the mound. Japanese pitchers have an exact plan for what they will check even before pitching the bullpen. The pitch tempo and tension are also different. While accepting the boredom of the same process, I’m trying to find something in it myself and create a ‘positive spark’.
More important than equipment, data adaptability
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How do you use your data?
It’s more about ‘how you consume’ the data produced than the presence or absence of equipment. Rakuten is basically equipped with various measuring equipment at the training site and feedback is provided in real time. When a detailed analysis report is sent to the club app, the players check it and ask the coaches and directors again. They constantly record their judgments, results, emotions, and processes in a database.
That’s great.
사진 확대 Fujihira Shoma. Photo = Courtesy of Coach Kang Young-sik himself
Fujihira Shoma, who plays as a closer to the Japanese national team and Rakuten, never let go of his pitching log. You have to keep accumulating such records to create your own ‘baseball pocket’. In Korea, when Plan A is shaken, it often collapses easily. I didn’t use the data properly.
Baseball’s biggest interest these days is also the “restraint revolution.”
In Japan, pitchers such as Shohei Ohtani and Yoshinobu Yamamoto are performing well, so I basically agree with the idea that “speed should be supported.” However, I don’t think simply changing the pitching motion will speed up the ball speed. I think systematic training and physical growth come first. Understand and train that overall physical functions such as mobility, flexibility, muscle strength, quickness, and muscle endurance are comprehensively needed. There is no choice but to take a long time to hold the ball in your hands because you go through trial and error through a lot of training and attempts. I’ve been understanding the basic concept of baseball since I was an amateur.
Do you think Korea is doing well?
Korea is also doing well in ‘fast throwing training’. But if you ask me if I’m doing my control training properly, I don’t think I am. Japan reduces errors by making and continuously refining various drills. It’s a very boring and hard process, but I keep going. The first priority is to develop a sense of using the body efficiently in various movements of throwing the ball, including catch. In the end, the key is to maintain the rhythm, timing, and sense of the pitch through continuous training and build up the “basics of command.”
Is it a difference in culture after all. Is it a problem with the system.
I don’t think this culture and system has been fully established in Korean baseball yet. In Japan, clubs and leaders constantly give feedback to players based on objective data such as data, and the process is systematically accumulated. Players also go through trial and error as they actively and proactively create the next plan together. That process is what drives sustainable growth. In Korea, I think the club tends to protect the players too much, and the players are also not active.
If you could just summarize the point.
What comes to mind is continuity, consistency, systematic use of data, and thorough preparation.
It’s the preparation process.
It’s actually something everyone knows and can do. But it’s hard to put it into practice. The attitude of accepting boring and arduous trials and errors and the power of continuing silently even if good results do not come out immediately were felt the greatest among Japanese players. The attitudes of players and fans toward baseball were also different. In Japan, even if the player is poor, the encouragement of “Ganbare (Cheer up)” often comes first. Players are also trying to protect the ‘Baseball Do’ as professional players. We respect sacrifice bunt, stolen base, and hits as part of baseball without forcing a certain player to make unilateral sacrifices. In the end, the difference in mind and attitude toward baseball was the most impressive.
Baseball Korea is a baseball magazine that delivers news of KBO League prospects, scouts, and rookie drafts based on student baseball such as Korean youth baseball and high school baseball. It was founded in March 2019 under the slogan of “Baseball America” and tells rich baseball stories through offline monthly magazines, YouTube broadcasts, and online media. Baseball Korea’s goal is to shed light on the efforts of amateur baseball players and field baseball players who sweat toward their dreams and to motivate them soundly. Through ‘MK Sports’, we will deliver the stories of many amateur players.
Kim Won-ik, editor of Baseball Korea (former MK Sports reporter)