Kwak Been to Start Against Taiwan in Baseball; Taiwan Counters With Semi-Pro Right-Hander Lin Yi-wei

Right-handed orthodox power pitcher Kwak Been (Doosan Bears) has been entrusted with the heavy responsibility of starting the opening Group B match against Taiwan at the 2026 Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games.

National baseball team manager Ryu Ji-hyun announced today that Kwak Been will take the mound as the starting pitcher for the game against Taiwan, scheduled for 6:30 p.m. tomorrow (the 21st) at the Okazaki Chuo Sogo Park Baseball Stadium in Aichi Prefecture, Japan.

Kwak Been is South Korea's most formidable starting card, currently leading the professional baseball regular league in ERA (2.26) and strikeouts (186) this season.

After arriving in Nagoya, Kwak Been pitched in the bullpen at an indoor training facility yesterday, making his selection as the starter against Taiwan widely anticipated.

Viewing the match against Taiwan as the most critical game that will determine whether the team can achieve five consecutive Asian Games titles, Manager Ryu plans to wage an all-out war utilizing all available pitchers, starting with Kwak Been, to counter the Taiwanese batting lineup.

Instead of left-handed pitchers Wang Yen-cheng (Hanwha Eagles) and Lin Yu-min (U.S. Minor League Baseball), Taiwan is sending out 20-year-old right-handed young gun Lin Yi-wei, who plays for the semi-pro Cooperative Bank baseball team, as its starter.

This appears to be an intention to cause confusion by deploying a pitcher who is relatively unfamiliar to the South Korean side.

Taiwan previously employed a semi-pro team pitcher as their starter in their opening game against South Korea at the 2018 Jakarta-Palembang Asian Games to great effect.

SBS commentator Lee Soon-chul forecasted, "Ultimately, the success or failure of the game against Taiwan depends on how many runs our batters can produce. It will be quite crucial what batting order Manager Ryu decides to use for the leadoff hitter and where to place Kim Do-young, who hits with stability regardless of the pitcher's type."

(Photo: Yonhap News)
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.