“I’ve never seen a ball like this” even after attacking Japanese aces… Lee Jung-hoo’s confidence and fear

“It was the first ball I had ever seen since I was born”.

For Lee Jeong-hoo (25), the representative hitter of the Korean national team, the 5th WBC match between Korea and Japan was a special stage. Personally, as a Korean, I felt a lot of anger over the humiliating defeat in 3-14. “I don’t think I’ll ever forget him until the end of his baseball career,” he said. Going one step further, there was a harvest to gain valuable experience as a baseball player and promote another evolution. 

In the match against Japan on the 10th, Lee Jung-hoo recorded a double hit that connected an RBI hit and a chance. In the bottom of the 3rd inning, against Yu Darvish, who was his first opponent in the 2nd and 2nd base, he hit a timely hit that rolled forward to the right fielder and ran away to 3-0. In the top of the 5th inning, with 2 out and 1 base, the second pitcher, Imana, created a double that fell next to the left fielder against Shota. 

Darvish is a special pitcher with 95 wins in the major leagues. He throws a fastball with a maximum speed of 159 km and is also a magician with a wide variety of breaking balls. As a starting pitcher in Yokohama, Imanaga recorded 11 wins and 4 losses in the 2022 season with an ERA of 2.26. At one time, he was a top-class left-hander who threw a fastball of up to 155 km. 

It was Lee Jung-hoo who saved the pride of a Korean batter with Yang Eui-ji’s left-handed two-run home run in the game against Japan. He scored multiple hits with sophisticated batting that did not push back against a special pitcher that Japan boasts. This in itself was proof of Lee Jung-hoo’s batting ability. The fact that he attacked pitchers he had never seen before also raised the ratings of the big leagues. 토토사이트

In an interview after winning his first win against the Czech Republic on the 12th, Lee Jung-hoo honestly expressed his feelings against Japanese pitchers. “Personally, I think it was good to hit a ball I had never seen before. The ball was definitely different. It was a ball I hadn’t seen in our league. I felt a lot while playing the game,” he said with strength.

It may be the pride of having hit and doubled against these pitchers, but it is no different than giving yourself homework. This is because when you enter the major leagues, you will face the ball in every at-bat. You will feel confident and fearful at the same time. It was like a determination to not stop advancing to the major leagues and to train oneself more for success.  

Lee Jung-hoo changed his batting form. He narrowed his stride and even slightly lowered his grip on the bat. He was prepared to counter the major leagues’ fastballs. He applied it in the WBC competition and got a successful result. When he returns to the KBO league, he is expected to further refine and study major league pitchers. In this respect, it seems that the Korea-Japan match had a positive effect on Lee Jung-hoo.