“Are you the kid who took the picture wrong?”
Doosan Bears manager Lee Seung-yeop was surprised again. Kwak Bin (24), who is aiming for a domestic ace, began pitching in the bullpen on the 9th at the Blacktown Baseball Stadium in Blacktown, Sydney, Australia. Bullpen pitching on this day was a process of warming up before throwing the ball with batters standing in the batting cage, and Kwak Bin surprised the surroundings by recording a maximum speed of 152 km at this time.
It’s such a good pace that director Lee doubts his velocity is mismeasured. Kwak Bin already recorded the highest speed of 146 km in the first bullpen pitching held while coach Lee watched on the 2nd. In early February, foreign aces do not come out well with this level of restraint. Director Lee watches over Kwak Bin happily, but he is careful not to overload him.
The reason why Kwak Bin is in a hurry to improve his condition is to make good use of his first Taegeuk mark opportunity. Kwak Bin was selected for the 2023 World Baseball Classic (WBC) team to be held in March. In Doosan, he was selected along with catcher Yang Eui-ji (36) and pitcher Jeong Cheol-won (24) and is quickly building his body for the tournament. 먹튀검증
Third baseman Heo Gyeong-min (33), after watching Kwak Bin’s ball at bat that day, said, “I felt that (Kwak) Bin definitely seems to have gained a lot of confidence since last year. I hope,” he cheered.
Pitching coach Jung Jae-hoon had a similar opinion to Heo Gyeong-min. Coach Jeong said, “Bin seems to have gained confidence because of his good grades in the second half of last year. He came to Australia before the main team and seems to be a little faster than the other players, but we have to prepare like that.” I hoped that he would come with good grades.
It is no exaggeration to say that Kwak Bin has been entrusted with an important role in the Doosan starting lineup this year. It is important that foreign one-two punches Raul Alcantara (31) and Dylan Pyle (27) pull well from the front, but Kwak Bin and Choi Won-joon (29) need to support him from the back so that they can expect to achieve a top-five finish.
Choi Won-joon, who is usually closest to Kwak-bin, laughed, revealing, “Bin said he could go to the opening match.” It means that Kwak Bin is preparing for this season with confidence. Doosan may be concerned about whether Kwak Bin can maintain his current pace until the end of the regular season, but Lee Kang-cheol, head coach of the Korean national baseball team, seems to be smiling broadly.
Kwak Bin is running with the determination to catch both rabbits, the WBC and 10 wins in the regular season. He said, “It’s my first adult national team, so I feel very burdened, and the closer the date approaches, the more I feel burdened. Although it’s fast) In both 2021 and 2022, it was always good from August to September, so I believe in that flow this year too. I want to endure only the first half well. I want to show more growth little by little,” he said with strength.
