‘There won’t be a 5-game winning streak like Kim Taek-yeon, right?’… Asian Youth Baseball Championship opens today

The Asian Youth Baseball Championship opens today (the 2nd).

The Korean national youth baseball team (under 18) will participate in the ’13th Asian Youth Baseball Championship’ held in Taipei, Taiwan on the 2nd. The future of Korean baseball has gathered, including Jeonju High School pitcher Jung Woo-joo and Deoksu High School pitcher Jung Hyun-woo, who are considered the top candidates for the 2025 KBO rookie draft.

The national team, which has been strengthening its teamwork through domestic training since the 22nd of last month, will play its first match against the host country, Taiwan, this afternoon. A total of 8 countries will participate in this competition, and the top 2 teams from the preliminary round will advance to the upper round, and the finalists will be determined by adding up the results of the preliminary round matches and the super round. The winner of the finals will be the final winner. The national team is in Group A with Taiwan, Pakistan, and Thailand. In fact, except for Taiwan, there is no opponent that can threaten Korea.

This national team is evaluated as symbolizing a truly ‘all-time pitching farm’. Following Jung Woo-joo and Jung Hyun-woo, Deoksu High School pitcher Kim Tae-hyung and Daegu High School pitcher Bae Chan-seung are also players who can easily throw up to 150 km/h.

That is why management for the future of the players is also necessary. Since it is a short-term game, it is inevitable for the players to pitch continuously, but excessive pitching can become a ‘stumbling block’ to the future of the players with a bright future.

In the WSBC U18 Baseball World Cup held in Taipei, Taiwan last year, overwork that should not have occurred was a problem. Lee Young-bok, the coach of Chungam High School, made Kim Taek-yeon (currently with the Doosan Bears), who was a pitcher at Incheon High School at the time, throw five consecutive pitches. The result was third place.

Although it was inevitable for the sake of ranking, it was too harsh for a young player who was only 18 years old. At the time, he appeared in 6 games and recorded a total of 247 pitches. In particular, he made him pitch 5 consecutive games. Furthermore, in the last game against the United States for 3rd and 4th place, he pitched 7 innings.

Although it was an unreasonable series of pitches for anyone to see, the manager at the time drew the ire of baseball fans by saying, “We operated according to the rules of the competition,” and that there was no problem. He failed to properly understand the reasons for the criticism of the ‘short-term’ operation method that was eating away at the players’ careers.

After the competition, when Kim Taek-yeon was nominated for Doosan, Doosan manager Lee Seung-yeop expressed his conviction, saying, “A high school student threw consecutive pitches. His arm is gone.” Although Kim Taek-yeon is currently playing well in the KBO League, no one knows what effect the aftermath of his five consecutive pitches will have on his future career as a player. Since elbows are considered to be worn out, this problem could appear several years later.

The players who will be on the national team this time are preparing for the 2025 KBO League Draft on the 11th. They will be the players representing each team after the national team. However, there are many players who have quietly disappeared from the professional stage due to the excessive pitching in international competitions. These players are the ones who will lead Korean baseball for the next 10 years, or maybe even longer.

I hope that in this tournament, everyone will be able to understand and operate in a reasonable manner. The future of Korean baseball depends on the choice of Manager Kye.

Reporter Information Lee Kun-hee topkeontop12@ajunews.com