Players will be notified individually to participate in the 5th World Baseball Classic (WBC). The list will be officially announced in January, but selected players will receive a ‘acceptance’ call within a few days.
An official from the KBO, which is preparing for the WBC, said on the 15th, “The announcement of the preliminary entry is scheduled for early January. Other countries do not announce or share entries at all, so this time we do not plan to announce it first,” he said. “However, we contact the players to be selected individually in advance so that they can prepare. In the case of a pitcher, the official ball will be issued first. We plan to start soon.”
Preparations for the WBC national team are progressing quietly but smoothly.
The KBO is currently announcing 50 interest lists. Of these, 35 people, excluding 15, must be selected as preliminary entries and submitted to the WBC Organizing Committee on January 6th. After that, 30 people will be confirmed as the final entry and submitted by February 7th. First, the 35 people who will be included in the preliminary entry will soon be notified individually.
Currently, there are news that some major leaguers are joining in Japan and the United States one by one. However, no country has announced the full list first or shared it with other participating countries. Considering that the entry is also important information in terms of strategy, it is only necessary to submit it to the organizing committee and there is no need to notify the outside world in advance. Even the list of 50 participants has been officially announced only by Korea, and it is known to other participating countries through the media. 메이저사이트
The Korean national team has always officially announced its roster and had a preparation period prior to submitting entries before international competitions. This is because, from the player’s point of view, the preparation plan for the season must be changed in order to participate in the international competition in March, right before the opening. At the 4th WBC in 2017, the final entry was announced early in October. It was to enable players to start preparing early. However, this time, only the selected players will be contacted in advance to make preparations and an announcement will be made later.
Many players are motivated to compete in the WBC. Most of the players included in the interest list have started training earlier than usual, but it is necessary to know for sure whether they will be selected and prepare. The selected players will be convened for the first time in Arizona, USA on February 14 after starting the spring camp with their team and enter the national team schedule.
On the 13th, KBO held a meeting with coach Lee Kang-cheol, coaches, and technical committee. The preliminary entry for 35 players has already been decided.
Coach Lee Kang-cheol, who took over the leadership of the national team, is also starting to move in earnest. I plan to leave for Australia on January 5th.
In the practice game of the Japanese national team held in Tokyo and Sapporo last November, the technical committee and some coaches divided into two groups and analyzed their strength. Coach Kang-Cheol Lee, who had a post-season schedule for his team KT at the time, plans to directly watch and prepare for the Australian players, the first opponents of the WBC group stage.