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[Baseball] Korea`s World Baseball Classic Roster Released

[Baseball] Korea`s World Baseball Classic Roster Released

Posted December. 27, 2008 03:08,   

한국어

Korea’s secondary roster of 32 candidates to play in the second World Baseball Classic in March has been announced.

Included were slugger Lee Seung-yeop of Japan’s Yomiuri Giants and pitcher Park Chan-ho of the Philadelphia Phillies.

Lee had repeated his intent not to play in the competition, and Park wanted to focus on training for next season after signing a one-year deal with Philadelphia.

Excluded was pitcher Baek Cha-seung of the San Diego Padres, who has become a naturalized American citizen.

The Korea Baseball Organization held a technical committee meeting in Seoul Friday attended by national team coach Kim In-shik (Hanwha Eagles) and six assistant coaches. They finalized the list of 32 candidate players, including five playing abroad.

The 15 pitchers on the list included Kim Kwang-hyun and Chung Dae-hyun of the SK Wyverns of Korea, who led Team Korea to the Olympic title in Beijing; Ryu Hyun-jin (Hanwha); Yoon Seok-min (Kia Tigers); and Bong Joong-keun (LG Twins), as well as Hwang Doo-sung (Woori Heroes), who was not in the initial list of 45 candidates.

Lee Hye-chun (Japan’s Yakult Swallows), Song Seung-joon (Lotte Giants), Ma Il-young (Woori) and Seo Jae-weong (KIA) made the initial list but did not make the cut this time.

The catchers are Park Kyung-wan (SK), Kang Min-ho (Lotte), and the nine infielders include Kim Dong-ju (Doosan Bears), Lee Dae-ho (Lotte), and Park Jin-man (Samsung Lions).

Among the six outfielders were Kim Hyun-soo (Doosan), Lee Taek-keun (Woori) and Lee Jin-young (LG). Five of the eight players active overseas made the roster, including Choo Shin-soo (Cleveland Indians), and Lim Chang-yong (Yakult).

On the inclusion of Lee Seung-yeop and Park Chan-ho despite their announcement of not playing in the tournament, team manager Kim said, “Since we assembled the national team, we wanted the best players. We included them both because we wanted to form the strongest team.”

The technical committee, which originally planned to finalize a list of 28 players, announced 32 because it said it wanted to wait and see in the hopes that Lee and Park will join the team.



wing@donga.com