World Baseball Classic Practice Begins

The Korean national baseball team started its first day of practice for next month’s World Baseball Classic at an indoor practice field in Fukuoka, Japan yesterday.

Bae Yeong-su, Oh Seung-hwan (Samsung), and three other pitchers threw in the bullpen, while fielders divided into three groups and practiced batting and defense. The athletes seemed to be in shape and light-footed.

Catcher Hong Seong-heun (Doosan) teamed up with pitcher Bong Jung-geun (Cincinnati Reds) in a bullpen pitching session, and Hong yelled out comments after every pitch. Amused by Hong’s loud and creative positive reinforcement, Bong burst out into laughter.

Pitching coach Sun Dong-ryeol’s ace is not Bong Jung-geun or Oh Seung-hwan, however, but rookie Jeon Byeong-du (Kia). Sun spared no praise for Jeon, saying, “Right now, he is the best pitcher on the team.”

The talk of the day was about weight loss. Most of the players looked thinner than usual thanks to diets and harsh training. Jo In-sung (LG) lost the most weight on the team, 9kg. Kim Dong-ju (Doosan) and Bae Yeong-su shed 8kg each.

Manager Kim In-sik’s first comment at the very first meeting of national team was, “Lets not do anything outside the bounds of common sense.” This was a warning against unseemly behavior similar to the Korean national team’s gambling incident at the 2000 Sydney Olympics, and more recently, the Taiwanese national team’s drinking binge incident. All team members must return to their rooms by 11:00 p.m.

uni@donga.com