It is said that ‘baseball is a fight on the mound’, but ‘mound operation’ has become more important in the 2023 5th World Baseball Classic (WBC), which will start with the game against Australia on March 9th.
This is because of the restrictions on the number of pitches to protect the pitcher and the forced break according to the number of pitches.
The WBC limits the number of pitches pitched by pitchers starting from practice games. .
In practice games, pitchers can only throw a maximum of 49 pitches, and the number of individual pitches is limited to 65 pitches in the first round of the finals, 80 pitches in the quarterfinal tournament, and a maximum of 95 pitches after the semifinals. If the number of pitches exceeds the limit while facing a batter, you must deal with only that batter and replace them.
Not only this. There are also compulsory rest days according to the number of pitches and consecutive fights. If you throw more than 30, you need to take a day off, if you throw more than 50, you have to take a four-day break, and if you have two consecutive fights, you have to take a day off regardless of the number of pitches. Also, no pitcher can play in consecutive doubleheaders.
The goal of this rule is to protect major league pitchers with many superstars. However, because of this regulation, the proportion of starting pitchers has decreased and the importance of the bullpen has increased. It seems that there will be many cases where the bullpen will have to use the one-point relief that goes away after one inning or one hitter.
Therefore, every game may have to be played with a ‘bee swarm operation’ in which at least 5 to 6 pitchers must be put in.
In Korea, 15 of the 30 players in the WBC national team are pitchers.
Among them, 10 veterans, including veterans Kwang-Hyun Kim (SSG) Hyeon-Jong Yang (KIA), Young-Pyo Koh, So-Jun So (kt), Tae-In Won (Samsung), Se-Woong Park (Lotte), Chang-Mo Koo (NC), Bin Kwak (Doosan), Ui-Ri Lee (KIA), and Yoon-Sik Kim (LG). is a starter There are five bullpens: Go Woo-seok, Jung Woo-young (above LG), Lee Yong-chan (NC), Kim Won-joong (Lotte), and Jeong Cheol-won (Doosan).
National team coach Lee Kang-cheol has already declared the destruction of pitchers’ positions.
Director Lee Kang-cheol said, “Kim Gwang-hyun and Yang Hyeon-jong will be used when it is important based on their many experiences as veterans. The decision to use it as a bullpen rather than as a starter is a measure that takes into account the pitch limit and the consequent forced rest.
In other words, it means that 5 people who were mainly active in the bullpen will not start, but on the contrary, all 10 starters should start in the bullpen. In this case, the way starting pitchers who do not have much experience in the bullpen perform in the bullpen can have a decisive influence on the outcome of the game.
In particular, for Korea, it is more important how to effectively manage the bullpen than selection, as they have to bet against Australia in the first game 슬롯사이트 and Japan in the second game. Of course, China in Game 3 and Czech Republic in Game 4 are weak, but considering that baseball has more surprises than any other game, tension cannot be let go.
In this wind, there is a story that a new trend in baseball may arise with this WBC as an opportunity. In other words, as it becomes difficult for pitchers to throw manned balls, they must always hit opponent batters with their main weapon, and hitters can literally reach a consensus that ‘both pitchers and batters need aggressive baseball’ by actively hitting.
Meanwhile, the WBC rules for overtime matches have also changed.
The match-up, which was first introduced in the 3rd WBC in 2013, starts from this year when regular innings are a draw, starting from the 10th inning of extra time. Previously, the match started from the 11th inning of overtime.
The runners have also changed in the game. Until last time, it started with runners on 1st and 2nd base, but now it has changed to only put them on 2nd base.
The so-called ‘Otani Rule’, which became an issue in the major leagues with the so-called dual sword style that combines pitcher and hitter, is also applied. If there is a player who played as a starting pitcher and hitter, even if he comes off the mound, he will remain as the designated hitter and continue the game. Currently, the Major League is applying this rule in consideration of Shohei Ohta (LA Angels).