Explaining South Korea's WBC Struggles

By Sung Min Kim

SEOUL, South Korea—By the end of the 2009 World Baseball Classic, South Korea had risen as one of the premier superpowers in the baseball world. It reached the semifinals of the inaugural 2006 tournament and battled Japan in a dramatic finals loss in 2009. The team’s success in those two tournaments—alongside a gold medal at the 2008 Beijing Olympics and the 2010 Guangzhou Asian Games—fueled the nation’s baseball popularity. The rising trend of the Korean Baseball Organization (KBO) attendance was a welcome byproduct, as was the increasing flow of Koreans to Major League Baseball.

Fast forward to 2017, and things are suddenly turned upside down. Korea was not only favored to win Pool A of this year’s WBC, but hosted it inside their sparkling brand-new Gocheok Dome in Seoul. Instead, playing in front of half-empty crowds, the Koreans went a shocking 1-2 and were eliminated before they had even played their third and final contest of pool play. They lost to Israel 2-1 in 10 innings after leaving nine men on base. They were shut out by The Netherlands 5-0. And they needed extras to shake talent-barren Taiwan 11-8 in 10 innings.

How did this happen? For one, many who have followed Korean baseball agree this was not the finest roster it could have assembled given talent the nation has produced. Key players now in the U.S.—Hyun-Jin Ryu, Hyun Soo Kim, Jae-Gyun Hwang and Byung Ho Park—did not join because they had to fight to make their respective MLB rosters in spring training. Shin-Soo Choo, whom Korean baseball officials strongly lobbied for, was barred from participating by the Rangers organization, citing his recent injury history. Pirates infielder Jung-Ho Kang, who was likely to join, wasn’t allowed to participate after getting caught for his third DUI during the offseason.

“The hitters that play in overseas leagues—Jung Ho Kang, Shin Soo Choo, (Orioles outfielder) Hyun Soo Kim, (Twins DH) Byung Ho Park—if only they had played, Dae-Ho Lee could have been placed anywhere between hitting third to sixth,” manager In-Sik Kim said after the the Netherlands loss. “There were factors out of control while we were scheming, which resulted in the situation we’re in now.”

The lack of MLB stars was compounded by even some of the KBO’s best not joining. One of the best pitchers in the peninsula, lefthander Kwang-Hyun Kim, missed the Classic because he is recovering from Tommy John surgery. Suk-Min Yoon, Korea’s top pitcher in the previous World Baseball Classic, also did not participate due to injury.

That put manager Kim in a bind. From a league with a cumulative ERA of 5.19 in 2016, the available talent was rather thin.

“The levels of pitchers, defense, etc., I realized that there were significant gap (to the Dutch),” the manager said. “I hope our players felt it as well, learn from it and do better in the future.”

Further, Korea took a conservative approach in terms of the talent pool it chose to cull from. Brother righthanders Tyson and Joe Ross are one-quarter Korean. Under tournament rules, they would have been eligible to don the Korea uniform. Hank Conger and Rob Refsnyder are Korean-Americans who would have brought big league credentials to the lineup, and could have been a boon to a team that scored only one run in its first 19 innings in the WBC.

But the Korean National Team selection process has always been exclusively for Korean-born, Korean-nationality players, a stringent standard most other WBC clubs don’t adhere to. Israel, for example, went unbeaten in Pool A with a roster assembled of Jewish-Americans from diverse playing backgrounds. The Dominican Republic, Canada, Italy and Mexico all feature key players born and raised in the United States, but who have chosen to represent countries of their heritage.

Put simply, other teams are playing with the best players they can gather within WBC regulations. Korea actively chose not to, and there is no telling if the Korean baseball committee will change their approach in near future.

After big success in the early WBC’s and other recent international tournaments, Korean baseball has enjoyed a rise in fandom and national attention given to the sport. However, the recent shortcoming is a significant blow, could cause the selection committee to reconsider its approach for the 2021 WBC. It is admittedly too early to tell, since the talent pool within the KBO and players playing overseas could be greater by then than it is now. Nonetheless, on the heels of this year’s embarrassing showing, whether Korea can get back to its previous international dominance is up in the air.

Freelance writer Sung Min Kim, based in Seoul, covered the World Baseball Classic in Korea.