Former Japan Manager Hideki Kuriyama Visits KBO to Discuss Bilateral Baseball Development

Officials from Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB), including Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters Chief Baseball Officer (CBO) Hideki Kuriyama, visited the Korea Baseball Organization (KBO) to discuss ways to develop baseball relations between South Korea and Japan.

The KBO announced today (August 21) that "CBO Kuriyama and other Nippon-Ham officials, along with marketing representatives from Pacific League Marketing (PLM)—a joint venture of the six NPB Pacific League clubs—visited the KBO Hall in Dogok-dong, Gangnam-gu, Seoul, on August 20 to meet with KBO Commissioner Huh Koo-youn." The KBO added, "They exchanged views on player development strategies to strengthen international competitiveness and changes in the baseball community following the introduction of new systems such as ABS (Automatic Ball-Strike System)."

CBO Kuriyama served as the manager of the Japan national baseball team from 2022 to 2023, leading Japan to victory at the 2023 World Baseball Classic (WBC).

CBO Kuriyama also met with South Korea national baseball team manager Ryu Ji-hyun and Cho Gye-hyun, head of the KBO’s National Team Strengthening Committee, to exchange opinions on strategies to bolster the national team's competitiveness.

Nippon-Ham club officials held a meeting with the KBO Umpire Committee to review the overall operation of the KBO League's ABS and toured the Video Review Center.

PLM representatives met with KBO working-level staff to discuss recent trends such as the surge in KBO League attendance and the expansion of younger fan demographics, as well as KBO's social media management strategies and implementation processes.

(Photo courtesy of Korea Baseball Organization, Yonhap News)
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.