Post-Olympic generation excites fans
Golden days for Korean baseball coming
As expected, the KT Wiz named Kang Baek-ho as their first pick in the 2017 Korea Baseball Organization (KBO) draft at Westin Chosun Hotel in Seoul on Monday.
The Wiz was the first baseball club this year to make their selection in accordance with the KBO draft rules. Ten baseball clubs take turns picking their players in reverse order of their win-loss records of last season. The Wiz finished last in the 2016 regular season and was automatically given the opportunity to call their pick first in the draft.
The baseball club’s selection was predicted because Kang, 18, a third-year student of Seoul High School, is the player every baseball club was dying for. He is a rare two-way player who is talented both in pitching and batting.
As a pitcher, Kang is a so-called fireballer and throws pitches as fast as 150 kilometers per hour. He won three games and lost one this season with 2.43 ERAs. He is a gifted slugger as well. He wowed baseball experts after producing double-digit home runs in the 2015 season when he was a first-year high school student. This season, he batted .422 and produced two home runs and 32 RBIs in 27 games.
Because of his rare strength as a pitcher and a slugger, Kang is often compared to Japanese pitcher and outfielder Shohei Otani who is playing for the Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Hawks and described as a baseball genius.
In an interview, Kang said he was honored to be called such and added Otani is a great player whom he admires.
Kang showcased his slugging power during the World Baseball Softball Confederation (WBSC) U-18 Baseball World Cup which wrapped up on Monday in Canada. Kang batted .375 with a home run and eight RBIs during the 11 games. Korea finished second in the world baseball championship, following the champion United States.
Kang is one of the post-Olympic generation athletes who were inspired by the national baseball team’s undefeated cruise into a gold medal during the 2008 Beijing Olympics.
Baseball experts here call the post-Olympic generation athletes “Bejing kids” because they were raised while watching Team Korea’s dramatic win of the Olympic gold at the 2008 Beijing Olympics and following second-place win in the World Baseball Classic in 2009.
The national team’s Olympic saga created a nationwide baseball boom after the Olympics and a sharp increase of baseball programs for children followed.
Little league programs doubled after the Beijing Olympics. In 2007, there were 39 little league baseball programs with 813 kids playing baseball. The number soon soared to 73 teams with 1,434 little leaguers.
Like Kang, some post-Olympic generation athletes were drafted by KBO clubs this year and are set to take Korean baseball to the next level.
There are 10 or more high school pitchers who throw high-velocity balls as fast as 150 kilometers per hour or higher. Kang, Baemyeong High School’s Gwak Been and Whimoon High School’s Ahn Woo-jin are some of the top-tiered high school pitchers. Gwak was drafted by the Doosan Bears, while Ahn joined the Nexen Heroes.
Gwak became a rising star after demonstrating his solid pitching in the game against the United States during the Super Round of the WBSC U-18 Baseball World Cup. During the eight and 1/3 innings, he threw 144 pitches with 1 ERA.
Ahn, the MVP of the 2016 Grand Phoenix high school baseball championship, is a fireballer throwing pitches at 150 kilometers per hour. During the baseball tournament in 2016, he threw 21 and 2/3 innings with three ERAs. His weapons are high-speed balls and sliders.
Duksoo High School’s ace Yang Chang-seop, also a national team member for the WBSC tournaments, was drafted by the Samsung Lions. His weapons are fast balls and sliders.
Some baseball analysts compare the post-Olympic generation athletes to the Class of 1992, referring to a group of the greatest pitchers of all time in Korean baseball who entered university in 1992.
The Class of 1992 includes the first Korean-born Major Leaguer Park Chan-ho, and Cho Sung-min who played for the Yomiuri Giants (1996-2002) of Japan’s Nippon Professional Baseball League before he joined the KBO in 2005.
Park played for several Major League baseball clubs, including the LA Dodgers and the Texas Rangers, until 2010 and later joined his hometown club — the Hanwha Eagles — in his last year as a professional baseball player. Cho was one of the top-tiered pitchers of his time.
Unlike Park, however, his successful career in professional baseball was short-lived and he’s been in a lingering slump since 1998. He had lived as a celebrity after his high-profile marriage with actress Choi Jin-sil in 2000. But their marriage didn’t last. Cho was under fire for domestic violence allegations and the couple divorced years later.
Choi’s life was cut short by suicide on Oct. 2, 2008. Cho’s life also had a tragic end in 2013 after he committed suicide.