■ Summary of News ■ The Tokyo Olympics ended on August 8, 2021, but in the baseball competition, the Japanese national team won all five races and achieved a brilliant record of winning a gold medal. On the other hand, the Korean national team suffered a loss of 3 wins and 4 losses in total, and suffered a devastating defeat that sank to 4th place out of the 6 participating countries in the final ranking. Korean baseball won a gold medal at the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games, and was expected to win a medal at the 2021 Tokyo Olympic Games, where baseball became the official event for the first time in 13 years, but suffered a disastrous defeat. Then, the Korean media began to blame all at once as if they had returned their palms. According to the Korea Munhwa Ilbo, Korean MBC commentator Ho Gu-young said, “I felt like I was the strongest in the world after winning the gold medal at the Beijing Olympics, but that was a complete illusion. Baseball was a frog in a well that fell into self-absorption. ”“ The players seemed to be proud of themselves, supported by the immense popularity of baseball in Korea, ”he emphasized his spiritual scorn. Similarly, Korean MBC commentator Chang Sung-ho said, “Although the players of the US national team were mainly composed of minor leagues, we knew almost all the pitching patterns of the Korean team’s pitchers by preliminary analysis.” On the other hand, our Korean team was completely neglected to prepare before the tournament, “he emphasized the lack of analysis and neglect of preparation. In addition, former commentator Son Jae-woo, who is well-versed in the circumstances of the major leagues, said, “In the past, many Japanese baseball players were good hitters with meat represented by Ichiro, but now there are many players who make full swings. “Japan’s baseball style has changed. Attack baseball is the current global trend, but Japan has changed to match this trend. However, in the Korean team, even the central hitting line of the main axis is the ball of the opponent’s pitcher. There was no batter who could repel strongly and far away, “he emphasized his lack of ability. In this way, the Korean side analyzed the causes of the devastating defeat as “mental swearing,” “lack of analysis,” and “lack of ability.” However, it has become clear that there was actually a much more fundamental cause for the lack of ability. Quote / Reference: https://www.chosun.com/sports/sports_photo/2021/08/05/NVKOULKAMN6UGETQ6DAC7KMT5Y/ http://www.munhwa.com/news/view.html?no=2021081001072139334001 ■ Deepening the news ■ By the way, there seems to be a fundamental reason for the lack of ability of Korean baseball. It becomes clear when comparing professional baseball in Japan and South Korea. After experiencing majors, Jerry Sands outfielder from the United States belonged to the Korean professional baseball Nexen Heroes in 2018 and 2019, and in 2020 he belonged to the Hanshin Tigers of Nippon Professional Baseball, and dozens of home runs. He is a long-distance batter who hit a home run and is one of the people who knows the difference between baseball in Japan and Korea. “Japanese fastball pitchers have a fast ball speed of 155km, but Korean fastball pitchers have a slow ball speed of 145km,” said Jerry Sands. In other words, there was a difference of 10 kilometers in pitcher ball speed between Japan and South Korea. A straight ball speed is one of the major indicators of a pitcher’s ability, but at the same time it can be said to be an important indicator of the league. If the speed of the ball thrown by the pitcher is high, the meet itself becomes difficult and it becomes difficult to hit back, and a situation that is overwhelmingly advantageous for the pitcher is created, such as a changing ball living and slowing and slowing. On the other hand, batters need to improve their speed and power to counter this, and as a result, they will boost the ability of the entire league. In recent years, the level of Japanese pitchers has been approaching that of the US Major League Baseball. However, the level of Korean pitchers has not changed since the Beijing Olympics a dozen years ago. If so, it would mean that the level of Korean baseball did not decline, but that it was left behind from the level of evolving world baseball. On the other hand, Ken Kadokura, who played in Korean professional baseball as a pitcher from 2009 to 2011 and then served as a pitcher coach in Korea and Japan, once described the shortcomings of Korean batters. Was pointed out. “Many Korean players have a stiff body.” “Usually, long-distance batters can hit the outer ball with their arms stretched moderately when hitting, but Korean players have a stiff body, so they can hit the inner corner ball. I don’t seem to be able to deal with it well. “” Japanese players are so flexible that they can fold their elbows well and can handle the ball that came to the inside corner dexterously and hit it for a long time. ” There is a limit, and the inner corner sphere is a weak point. In the end, at the Tokyo Olympics and baseball games, Korean pitchers with slow ball speeds were driven in, and Korean hitting lines that could not cope with fastballs and inner corner balls were silenced. And the player base was thin, and there was no substitute player. It is believed that it was not a coincidence that the Korean national team suffered a devastating defeat, but an inevitable result. The theme this time was “Why did Korean baseball lose at the Tokyo Olympics? And what are the serious problems that are expected in the future?” By the way, it is said that the number of spectators in Korean professional baseball has skyrocketed since winning the gold medal at the 2008 Beijing Olympics, and the maximum annual salary of players has exceeded 1 billion won. However, due to the decisive lack of ability this time, Korean baseball will be labeled as “frog in the well” in the future, and the withdrawal of fans, the decline in popularity, and the decrease in the number of spectators will be serious. It seems that they are concerned and have already fallen into a situation where their survival is in jeopardy. So, is there a future turnaround for Korean baseball? Apparently the answer is negative. In South Korea, which originally has a population of 52 million, the number of athletes is thinner than in the United States and Japan, and the ongoing problem of an extremely declining birthrate is expected to rapidly reduce the population of young people, especially those who start sports. As a result, the sports population and baseball population are likely to decline sharply. It is expected that Korean baseball will be left behind more and more from the world in the future, but this is not limited to baseball, but it is expected to extend to Olympic events and sports in general. The slump in Korean baseball and Korean Olympic athletes, who should have played a part in the proclamation of national prestige, is a result that reflects the problems of the whole country and also suggests a serious situation for the future industry and economy. is. As mentioned above, Kaori Amai has navigated. How did you feel about it? Quote / Reference: https://bb-news.jp/news/%E9%98%AA%E7%A5%9E%E3%82%B5%E3%83%B3%E3%82%BA%E3%80 % 81% E6% 97% A5% E6% 9C% AC% E3% 81% A8% E9% 9F% 93% E5% 9B% BD% E3% 81% AE% E9% 81% 95% E3% 81% 84 % E3% 82% 92% E8% AA% 9E% E3% 82% 8B% E3% 80% 8C% E4% BD% 95% E6% 95% 85% E3% 81% 8B% E3% 81% AF.html https://baseballgate.jp/dailybg/global-baseball-biz/830263/ https://japanese.joins.com/JArticle/281735 ■ Music used: “Amacha Music Studio” https://amachamusic.chagasi .com / “Music Note” http://www.music-note.jp/bgm/ ■ I’m Kaori Amai. Opinions and impressions that comply with the YouTube policy will encourage production. Click here to subscribe to the channel → http://www.youtube.com/channel/UCOHjxgf8CpNyg6gRMk8vurg?sub_confirmation=1.
JP2021.COM