National Baseball Team Pitchers Kwak Bin, Choi Min-seok, and So Hyung-jun Check Conditions with Bullpen Sessions

The South Korean national baseball team, aiming for its fifth consecutive Asian Games title, has held its first adaptation training session after arriving at the battleground.

Led by manager Ryu Ji-hyun, the national baseball team lightly warmed up for two hours starting at 1 p.m. on September 19 at an indoor training facility in Toyokawa, Aichi Prefecture, Japan.

Having arrived in Nagoya the previous day, the team was unable to secure a practice venue from the tournament organizing committee for the day, prompting them to move to an indoor practice facility pre-arranged by the Korea Baseball Organization (KBO) secretariat to check their conditions.

Kwak Bin and Choi Min-seok (both of the Doosan Bears) and So Hyung-jun (of the kt wiz), who did not pitch in the practice game against Sangmu two days ago, threw around 25 to 30 pitches each in the bullpen.

Considering that bullpen pitching usually takes place two days before an appearance, the starting pitcher for South Korea in their opening group-stage match against Taiwan—to be held at 6:30 p.m. the day after tomorrow at the Okazaki Chuo Sogo Koen Baseball Stadium in Aichi Prefecture—appears to be narrowed down to one of these three players.

Rather than an ordinary indoor practice facility, the venue was spacious and quite well-equipped with infrastructure, allowing the team to effectively divide the space into a recovery group, a hitting department, and bullpen pitching to solidly practice both batting and defense.

Manager Ryu Ji-hyun expressed his gratitude, saying, "I want to thank the KBO secretariat for its systematic support. In this tournament where there are many controversies regarding team support and other issues, the KBO moved quickly to well-handle variables such as accompanying a team doctor, securing training locations, and resolving team bus issues."

He added, "Providing such a good environment will surely have a positive impact on our players' performance."

The national baseball team plans to hold its final training session tomorrow at the Okazaki Baseball Stadium, where the actual games will take place.

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