Last fall, it was wonderful.
Looking back, it wasn’t just last fall that was strong. It was consistently strong every fall. Her Kiwoom catcher Lee Ji-young (37) wore the Taegeuk mark for the first time in her life. There are only two catchers in the list of 30 players announced by the Korea Baseball Organization (KBO) on the 4th. With the selection of Yang Eui-ji (Doosan), the winner of the 2022 Golden Glove, being certain, young and competent catchers competed with Lee Ji-young for a spot. However, it was Lee Ji-young who was selected for the WBC, which will be held in March.
In an atmosphere of mostly acceptance, there was a reaction of surprise. Regarding this, national team coach Lee Kang-cheol said, “The starter is thinking of Yang Eui-ji. As a backup, while watching the postseason last year, Lee Ji-young moved well despite his age. He discussed a lot with battery coach Jin Gap-yong. He revealed the background of the selection, saying, “He is a sincere and skill-wise player.” 스포츠토토
Lee Ji-young’s postseason batting average (excluding wild card matches) is 0.312 (39 hits in 125 at-bats). He’s strong on the big stage. He did not have a home run, but he also recorded an on-base percentage of 0.387, a playoff career of 0.367, and a Korean Series career of 0.347. He has a good eye for picking out walks. Since he belonged to Samsung during the Samsung Dynasty, he has stepped on the stage of the Korean series a total of 6 times since 2012.
WBC technical committee member A said, “It was not selected based on performance in the second half or postseason. The criteria for selecting players this time is competitiveness on the international stage,” he hinted. Lee Ji-young’s outstanding performance in the postseason may have been a factor in adding points, but it was not simply selected based on his fall baseball performance.
He joined Samsung as a foster player in 2008, and since his debut in 2009, this is his first national team selection in 16 years. However, because of her extensive experience on the big stage, the WBC Technical Committee judged that Lee had sufficient international competitiveness. Lee Ji-young started building her body early regardless of whether she was selected as a national representative or not. He will start training his skills soon.