Ryu Joong-il, who returned to Korea, “You can’t be satisfied… Premier 12 is also made up of young players.”

“Pitchers, if you do a lot of flexibility training… you should pay attention to the central batting line.”

Director Ryu Joong-il answers questions from reporters

(Seoul = Yonhap News) Reporter Jongchan Han = South Korea coach Ryu Joong-il, who finished second in the Asian Professional Baseball Championship (APBC), returned to Korea through the Gimpo International Airport terminal on the afternoon of the 20th and is answering questions from reporters. 2023.11.20 [email protected]

(Seoul = Yonhap News) Reporter Hong Gyu-bin = Coach Ryu Joong-il of the Korean national team, who led the team to second place in the Asian Professional Baseball Championship (APBC) 2023, set the tone by saying, “We must not be satisfied with this.”

Coach Ryu met with reporters after returning to Korea through Gimpo Airport on the 20th and emphasized, “There are some things our players did well, but (objectively) they are no match for the Japanese players.”

Korea advanced to the finals with a record of 2 wins and 1 loss in the preliminary round, then lost 3-4 to Japan and finished as runners-up. Their first loss in the preliminary round was a 1-2 loss to Japan.

Coach Ryu emphasized that even though it was seemingly a close game by one point, the individual capabilities of the Korean national team were far behind those of the Japanese players.

He confessed, “We have similar body types, but I started to wonder why even if those guys throw the ball at 145 km/h, it looks like it’s 150 km/h, and we don’t have any balls even if we throw it at 150 km/h.”

He also mentioned the need to benchmark Japanese baseball training methods that emphasize flexibility.

Coach Ryu advised, “Constriction is not about strength but flexibility, and Japan does a lot of weight training to improve rotation of the pelvis and shoulders,” adding, “I hope our players will also open their eyes in that direction and train a lot.”

In particular, he singled out Jeong Hae-young (KIA Tigers), who played an active role in the closing game of this tournament, and gave an affectionate reprimand, saying, “I scolded him because there was almost no difference in his skills compared to before. It feels like he only throws with his arms, not flexibility.”

APBC team returns home

(Seoul = Yonhap News) Reporter Jongchan Han = Korean players who finished second in the Asian Professional Baseball Championship (APBC) are returning home through the Gimpo International Airport terminal on the afternoon of the 20th. 2023.11.20 [email protected]

In the batting lineup, it was said that there were not enough resources to form a ‘cleanup trio’ with No. 4 hitter Noh Si-hwan (Hanwha Eagles).

Manager Ryu said with regret, “If we have a player like Lee Jeong-hoo, he would be perfect as number 3,” and added, “I think we need to pay a little more attention to the central batting lineup.”

Coach Ryu also expressed his belief that the next international competition, the Premier 12 in November next year, should select as many young players as possible.

Excluding wild cards, participation in APBC is limited to those ‘under 24 years of age or under 3 years of professional experience.’

Coach Ryu said, “Because there is no age limit for the Premier 12, we will have to select the best players in the KBO league, but even so, I think we should mainly select younger players.” He added, “We have to look at the 2028 Olympics in the future.”