{"id":602708,"date":"2026-03-03T01:40:31","date_gmt":"2026-03-03T01:40:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/602708\/"},"modified":"2026-03-03T01:40:31","modified_gmt":"2026-03-03T01:40:31","slug":"it-was-a-more-disappointing-slump-because-he-believed-ryu-ji-hyuns-ace-would-play-at-the-2026-wor","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/602708\/","title":{"rendered":"It was a more disappointing slump because he believed Ryu Ji-hyun’s “Ace” would play at the 2026 Wor.."},"content":{"rendered":"

It was a more disappointing slump because he believed Ryu Ji-hyun’s “Ace” would play at the 2026 World Baseball Classic (WBC). It was confirmed once again that if the ball control is shaken, the outstanding ball power does not work. This is the story of Kwak Bin (Doosan Bears).<\/p>\n

The South Korean national baseball team, led by head coach Ryu Ji-hyun, drew 3-3 with the Hanshin Tigers of the Japanese Professional Baseball (NPB) in a warm-up match held at Kyocera Dome in Osaka, Japan on the 2nd.<\/p>\n

This game is an official warm-up match organized by the WBC Secretariat. Ryu Ji-hyun, who improved his sense of play through the match after joining overseas players and Korean players on the 1st, will hold another warm-up match with the Orix Buffaloes at the same place on the 3rd. After that, the tournament will begin its schedule.<\/p>\n

\"At \uc0ac\uc9c4 \ud655\ub300 At the World Baseball Classic warm-up match between the Korean national team and the Hanshin Tigers in Japan held at the Kyocera Dome in Osaka, Japan on Sunday. Korean starting pitcher Kwak Bin leaves the mound after allowing Hanshin to score three runs in the bottom of the second inning. Photo = Yonhap News \"At \uc0ac\uc9c4 \ud655\ub300 At the World Baseball Classic warm-up match between the Korean national team and the Hanshin Tigers in Japan held at Kyocera Dome in Osaka, Japan on Sunday. Korean starting pitcher Kwak Bin is pitching hard at the bottom of the first inning. Photo = Yonhap News <\/p>\n

It was a well-earned game. There were many crises, but the pitchers minimized the number of runs, and the batters increased the sense of hitting. There was also something to be pointed out. Kwak Bin, the starting pitcher, showed a sluggish pitch.<\/p>\n

The bottom of the first inning was good. With South Korea leading 2-0, Takumu Nakano (left-handed fly), Cam Derbaini (center field fly), and Koji Chikamoto (three strikeouts) started the game happily. The maximum speed of fastballs was 156 kilometers.<\/p>\n

However, it shook sharply in the bottom of the second inning. He led leadoff hitter Yusuke Oyama to a groundout to third base, but he made a straight walk to Ukyo Maegawa. Hayato Nakagawa then hit a right-center hit, driving him to first and third bases with one out. Here, he lost his first run by giving up a sacrifice fly to center field to Nozomu Takatera.<\/p>\n

The crisis continued. Onodera Dan allowed an RBI double to the left. Left fielder Germai Jones (Detroit Tigers) attempted a sliding catch, but unfortunately the ball turned away the glove. Kwak Bin, who later dedicated an RBI timely hit to Torai Fushimi, ended his mission with difficulty by blocking Nakano.<\/p>\n

The final result was three hits, one walk, one strikeout, and three runs in two innings. The total number of pitches was 35. Originally, he was scheduled to throw 50 to 60 pitches in three innings, but he came down from the mound early.<\/p>\n

\"At \uc0ac\uc9c4 \ud655\ub300 At the World Baseball Classic warm-up match between the Korean national team and the Hanshin Tigers in Japan held at the Kyocera Dome in Osaka, Japan on Sunday. Korean starting pitcher Kwak Bin leaves the mound after allowing Hanshin to score three runs in the bottom of the second inning. Photo = Yonhap News \"The \uc0ac\uc9c4 \ud655\ub300 The World Baseball Classic warm-up match between the Korean national team and the Hanshin Tigers of the Japanese professional baseball team was held at Kyocera Dome in Osaka, Japan on the 2nd. South Korean coach Ryu Ji-hyun is heading to the dugout after exchanging lineups with Hanshin Fujikawa Kyuji. Photo = Yonhap News <\/p>\n

Kwak Bin’s poor performance is very painful news for Ryu Ji Hyun-ho. This is why he was selected as the ace of the national team in this WBC. Kwak Bin, who was called by Doosan for the first nomination in 2018, is a right-hander who recorded 47 wins, 40 losses, one save, four holds, and an ERA of 4.01 in 152 games (681.2 innings). In particular, he played well in the 2024 season. In 30 games (167.2 innings), he marked 15-9 with a 4.24 ERA and tied for the most wins with Won Tae-in (15-6, 3.66 ERA) of the Samsung Lions.<\/p>\n

Although last year’s performance (5-7, 4.20 ERA) was disappointing, he has plenty of experience in international competitions. He played under the national flag at the 2023 WBC, the 2022 Hangzhou Asian Games, the Asian Professional Baseball Championship (APBC) 2023, and the 2024 World Baseball Softball Confederation (WBSC) Premier 12.<\/p>\n

Coach Ryu Ji-hyun predicted Kwak Bin as an ace when Moon Dong-ju (Hanwha Eagles) and Won Tae-in were eliminated from the national team due to injuries. After writing “You are the ace of the national team” on the New Year’s cash envelope, he had such high expectations that he crossed the line. Some say he is likely to start against Taiwan on the 8th, which will be a watershed for advancing to the second round.<\/p>\n

However, Kwak Bin did not show such a good appearance on the day and failed to live up to the trust of the head coach. After the game, he said, “I couldn’t catch the ball count due to a breaking ball in the bottom of the second inning, and the result was bad because I had no choice but to throw it at the timing of the batters’ fastball.”<\/p>\n

During the pitch, he faced the bad luck of breaking his fingernails. Kwak Bin said, “After the end of the first inning, my nails were cracked. “It’s not that I couldn’t throw because of my nails,” he said. “I don’t think it’s enough to interfere with the next game.”<\/p>\n

\"At \uc0ac\uc9c4 \ud655\ub300 At the World Baseball Classic warm-up match between the Korean national team and the Hanshin Tigers in Japan held at Kyocera Dome in Osaka, Japan on Sunday. Korean starting pitcher Kwak Bin is pitching hard at the bottom of the first inning. Photo = Yonhap News <\/p>\n

He said he was fine, but there is really not much time left until the opening of the WBC. In many ways, director Ryu Ji-hyun’s worries have deepened.<\/p>\n

[Lee Hanjoo, MK Sports Reporter]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"It was a more disappointing slump because he believed Ryu Ji-hyun’s “Ace” would play at the 2026 World…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":602709,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[2302],"tags":[5,2353,2352],"class_list":{"0":"post-602708","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-npb","8":"tag-baseball","9":"tag-nippon-professional-baseball","10":"tag-npb"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@mlb\/116162701402348910","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/602708","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=602708"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/602708\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/602709"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=602708"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=602708"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=602708"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}