At the 5th World Baseball Classic (WBC) to be held in March, what level is the Korean national team’s power among the 20 participating countries? One of the famous sports media outlets in the U.S. rated the Korean national team’s performance in this tournament, which is aiming to advance to the semifinals as the first goal.
Ben Verlander, an analyst at Fox Sports in the US, picked the top 10 rankings for this tournament through an article published on the 22nd. Verlander is the younger brother of Justin Verlander, one of the best pitchers in the major leagues, and played in the minor leagues of American professional baseball.
Verlander ranked Korea eighth out of the top 10 and said, “Korea with Kim Ha-seong and Tommy Edman has a mid-to-high level of power,” adding, “There are also talented pitchers including Kim Gwang-hyun.”
Verlander also introduced a nuance of a team with the potential to create a stir in Korea. However, Verlander’s evaluation criteria seem to be somewhat insufficient in terms of universal standards, as there is a fragmentary aspect of the one-sided big leaguer.메이저놀이터
Verlander ranked Cuba 10th overall, but said that there are many Cuban players who play in American professional baseball, but very few players play in the major leagues. Lewis Roberts and Yoann Moncada (Chicago White Sox) were mentioned as notable players.
In Canada, which was ranked ninth, Freddy Freeman (LA Dodgers), Nick Piveta (Boston), and Tyler O’Neill (St. Louis), who were top players in the big leagues, were introduced.
The Netherlands rose to seventh place, one step higher than Korea. The Netherlands includes big-league star players such as Xander Bogaerts (San Diego), Kelly Jansen (Boston), and Jonathan Scoop (Detroit).
The Netherlands, along with Cuba, are in Group A of this tournament, so if Korea in Group B advances to the quarterfinals as first or second place in Group B, they will compete for the quarterfinals.
In 6th place, Mexico, which is lined with major league players such as Julio Urias (LA Dodgers), was named, and in 5th place, Puerto Rico, led by Jose Berrios (Toronto), who won 12 big league wins last year, was named.
However, it is unclear whether Puerto Rico will pass the first round. This is because they are included in Group D, the so-called ‘group of death’, with the Dominican Republic and Venezuela. The Dominican Republic, which has no gaps in all pitching, ranked first overall, and Venezuela ranked fourth.
In addition, the United States ranked second as the team with the most power to compete for the championship, and Japan rose to third. Looking at the strength of the Japanese national team, Verlander introduced not only major leaguers such as Shohei Ohtani (LA Angels), but also key pitchers in Japanese professional baseball such as Yoshinobu Yamamoto (Orix), Loki Sasaki (Chiba Lotte), and Shota Imanaga (Yokohama). did. In particular, regarding Sasaki, he said that he would play in the major leagues at the right time, saying, “A pitcher who throws a 103 mph (about 165 km) fastball.”