6 LG Twins players to play for Premier 12

The final roster of 28 South Korea’s national baseball team players, who will compete in the World Baseball Softball Confederation (WBSC) Premier12, was announced on Thursday. Led by captain Song Sung-mun, the team includes 14 pitchers, two catchers, eight infielders, and four outfielders. Thirty-four players were called up and trained at the Gocheok Sky Dome in Seoul until the day before finalizing the roster. Six players did not make the cut.

LG Twins added six players, which is the most of any KBO team. KIA Tigers, the champion of both the regular season and Korean Series, followed with five. On the other hand, Korean Series runner-up Samsung Lions was the only one among the 10 KBO teams that did not add any player to the national team. Four players on the team were named on the call-up list, but Koo Ja-uk and Won Tae-in were injured during the Korean Series, while Kim Young-ung and Kim Ji-chan were injured during the call-up training.

Led by manager Ryu Joong-il, the team’s biggest weapon is its bullpen. Five pitchers on the team play as closers – Kia Tigers’ Jung Hai-young, LG Twins’ You Young-chan, Doosan Bears’ Kim Taek-yeon, KT Wiz’s Park Yeong-hyun, and SSG Landers’ Jo Byeong-hyeon. As the starting pitcher line-up is considered relatively weak, Ryu is also considering using bullpen pitchers to pitch two or three innings.

After seven days of training in South Korea, the team will depart for Taipei, Taiwan, which will host Group B tournament matches on Friday morning through Incheon International Airport.


Hong-Gu Kang windup@donga.com