Perhaps the more painful thing was that there was not even a ‘selection controversy’.

Hanwha failed to produce a single representative for the 2023 World Baseball Classic (WBC), which will be held in March. The reaction was calm. It was because most of the officials inside and outside the club acknowledged that no Hanwha player was selected as a representative player.

There were discussions about it. It contained content that it was an opportunity to face the current Hanwha power.

Although the nature of the competition is different, in the Tokyo Olympics in August 2021, when the best members of the domestic group mobilized, right-handed orthodox pitcher Min-woo Kim put the Taegeuk mark as a Hanwha player. Controversy over the fact that some Hanwha players were not selected followed. This is because sidearm pitcher Kang Jae-min, who was raising his stock price that year, and Jeong Eun-won, who was raising his stock price with ‘snow baseball’ competing for the top spot in the league, were among the possible candidates for selection. There was no point in looking at their elimination as unfair.

The WBC is a tournament in which foreign players also participate. Korean major leaguer Tommy Edman will also participate in the national team. Getting picked for the national team can be even more difficult. However, the fact that even a small controversy over the selection results did not arise is something that the so-called leading players representing Hanwha should feel painfully. 토토

Even if you turn back the time a year or two ago, there were no players worth aiming for at the 2023 WBC. Infielder Jeong Eun-won, who competes for on-base percentage, as well as Noh Si-hwan, who has a 120% chance as a third baseman, had the resources to rise to the highest level in the league if the growth rate continued. However, they have taken a rather backward step in the last season or two.

Jeong Eun-won recorded an on-base rate of 0.407 OPS and 0.791 in the 2021 season, but last season it fell to an on-base rate of 0.377 and an OPS of 0.745. Noh Si-hwan seemed to stretch out with 18 homers and an OPS of 0.852 in the 2021 season, but last season he sat down with 6 homers and an OPS of 0.737.

Each has a reason. There were injuries, and there were also changes following the expansion of the strike zone. However, the variable was not unique to Hanwha. Not only these players, but also Ha Joo-seok, Choi Jae-hoon, and Kim Tae-yeon, who could have played as starting pitchers if they were not sick, all suffered a drop in performance. Kim Min-woo, the leader of the domestic starting lineup, also had a down season last year, and the

conditions for selection for the baseball team are the same every time. If you are a fielder, you must be competitive in defense if you do not have unrivaled batting power. Hanwha took the change with a strong ‘defense shift’, but had a time of falling personal defense. For example, Jeong Eun-won, who was expected to grow into the league’s best second baseman, is not as highly regarded as he was in his rookie days in terms of his defense. Noh Si-hwan is also not competitive as a third baseman. This is a point worth remembering Choi Jeong (SSG), who honed his defensive skills as a third baseman with a giant cannon.

The pain of zero players selected for the WBC national team could be ‘medicine’ for Hanwha this season. The key is, of course, whether the key players can spend their ‘awakening time’ and put them into action. Inside the club, there was also a voice saying, “I hope it will be a time that the players feel deeply.”