Praise Pours In for Kwak Bin as His Fighting Spirit Recalls Sacrifice Nine Years Ago

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Pitcher Kwak Bin, who led the national baseball team to its fifth consecutive gold medal yesterday (September 27), has earned a new nickname: "Martyr Kwak Bin." During his days on the youth national team, he wore the Taegeukgi and pitched with all his might, suffering a major injury that threatened his career. Having overcome surgery and rehabilitation, he has once again stood tall as South Korea's ace in this tournament.

Reporter Lee Seonghun has the story.

[Reporter]

Back in 2017, when he was a high school senior, Kwak Bin literally dedicated his arm to the country.

Serving as the national team's ace at the U-18 Baseball World Cup, he pitched over 14 innings across two games. Notably, against powerhouse USA, he threw a staggering 144 pitches, sparking intense controversy over overuse.

In the wake of this overuse, Kwak Bin underwent elbow surgery the following year after debuting professionally. Complications flared up as well, sidelining him for two years and leading him to even consider quitting pitching.

[Kwak Bin / National Baseball Team Pitcher (2021, Phone interview on "Live for Baseball"): (The ligament) seemed to have suffered a 70% tear. For about three months, I even had to wash my face with my left hand because it hurt too much to use my right.]

Bouncing back like an tumbler doll, Kwak Bin steadily developed to establish himself as South Korea's top ace this year, even nearing the most innings in a single season. Yet, at this Asian Games, he once again burned through everything he had.

After delivering a stellar performance of 6 scoreless, no-hit innings in the crucial opening game against Taiwan, he pitched 111 pitches—the most by any South Korean pitcher in Asian Games history—in yesterday's final against Japan, allowing just one run to lay the foundation for the championship victory.

The 19 strikeouts Kwak Bin recorded in this tournament also mark an all-time record for a South Korean national team pitcher at the Asian Games.

Kwak Bin expressed a sense of relief, saying he has lifted a bit of the heavy burden from the Hangzhou tournament, where he was unable to pitch a single game due to muscle spasms and had to pass the pressure of being the ace to younger teammate Moon Dong-joo.

[Kwak Bin / National Baseball Team Pitcher: I felt so sorry for Dong-joo, having to pitch and carry such a heavy burden at such a young age back then. It feels like the weight I've been carrying for three years has become a bit lighter.]

Having earned the nickname "Martyr" from fans for sparing no sacrifice for his country, Kwak Bin vowed to remain a player who gladly shoulders the weight of the Taegeuk mark moving forward.

[Kwak Bin / National Baseball Team Pitcher: Whenever I am selected (for the national team), I believe I must do my absolute best as long as I wear the Taegeuk mark, without making any excuses, and simply deliver results.]

(Photo: Yonhap News)
Reported by Seol Chi-hwan and Yang Doo-won | Video by Park Jung-sam | Graphics by Park Taeyoung and Kim Min-young
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.