National baseball team heads to Taiwan with bullpen strategy amid injuries

[Anchor]

The baseball national team participating in the Premier 12 tournament has headed to Taiwan for the group stage today, receiving support from many fans.

With many injuries causing a significant loss in strength, the strategy of head coach Ryu Joong-il is bullpen baseball.

Reporter Moon Young-kyu has the story.

[Report]

Early in the morning, a so-called 'big camera' crew was dispatched to Incheon Airport.

The scene resembled that of a K-pop star's departure, and the players once again felt baseball's heightened popularity.

[Im Chan-Kyu/Baseball National Team: "Please take a lot of pictures of them (fans). Let's take pictures together."]

Despite evaluations that the team's strength has weakened due to generational changes, the players who received an unexpectedly warm send-off have resolved to do their best.

[Song Sung-mun/Baseball National Team: "Many people came to see us, so I feel a greater sense of responsibility before we leave again, and I think we are not too concerned about the evaluations of being weak."]

However, there are still many concerns regarding the mound, including the starting pitchers.

With Um Sang-back out due to poor condition, the starting options are limited to Im Chan-Kyu, Gwak Been, Ko Young-pyo, and Choi Seung-yong, which is less impressive than in the previous tournament.

Coach Ryu Joong-il plans to rely on bullpen baseball, using Kim Taek-yeon and Jung Hai-young, rather than having the starting pitchers go long innings since it is a short tournament.

[Ryu Joong-il/Baseball National Team Coach: "Ideally, if the starting pitchers can go about 5 innings, that would be great. The middle relievers are all in good condition, so I trust them."]

With injuries to players like Roh Si-hwan and Kim Young-woong, the batting lineup has also weakened compared to initial expectations, making the performance of prodigy Kim Do-yeong crucial.

MLB.com has named Kim Do-yeong as one of the 8 players to watch in this tournament, praising him as a batter that any pitcher would fear.

KBS News, Moon Young-kyu.