After a 12-hour delay caused by aircraft defects, key members of the South Korean baseball team finally made their way back home Wednesday evening from their U.S. training camp for the World Baseball Classic (WBC).
Managed by Lee Kang-chul, South Korea finished its two-week training camp for the WBC on Monday in Tucson, Arizona. The team was split into three groups on its way to Los Angeles. From there, the team was then going to be divided into two groups for separate connecting flights to Incheon.
However, the plane carrying Lee and 25 other coaches, players and team staffers from Tucson was grounded due to mechanical issues. They were forced to take a bus to Los Angeles and ended up missing their original flight that would have landed in Incheon just past 5 a.m. Wednesday.
They were split into two groups for their two new flights out of Los Angeles, with the group including Lee landing here at 5:40 p.m. Wednesday and the other one led by third base coach Kim Min-ho coming home about 10 minutes prior to that.
The other players and coaches arrived home around 5 a.m. Wednesday.
Among the players being affected by the delay were captain Kim Hyun-soo, veteran starter Kim Kwang-hyun and star outfielder Lee Jung-hoo.
In a scrum at Incheon International Airport, manager Lee chose to look on the brighter side.
“So many things happened to us on this journey, but the players tried to pick up one another and stay positive for those 35 hours or so,” Lee said. “I felt this experience made us grow tighter as a team.”
As a result of this disruption, manager Lee, two coaches and nine other players were on the same flight as San Diego Padres infielder Kim Ha-seong. Kim, one of two major leaguers on the national team, was not available for the national team camp due to his club commitments, and will have his first practice with South Korea on Thursday at Gocheok Sky Dome in Seoul.
The one other big leaguer on the squad, Tommy Edman of the St. Louis Cardinals, arrived here around 6 a.m. Wednesday.
Thursday’s session will be the first full squad workout for South Korea, and it will come exactly one week before its first Pool B game of the WBC against Australia at Tokyo Dome.
South Korea is scheduled to play a scrimmage against the SSG Landers of the Korea Baseball Organization, starting at 6 p.m. at Gocheok. Kim and Edman aren’t eligible for that game because it’s not an official pretournament exhibition recognized by the WBC.
Manager Lee said the workout and the scrimmage will go ahead as scheduled, despite the long journey home for several players.
“At this point, it’s not really about addressing weaknesses for different players,” he said. “They are all capable players. The most important thing is to assign them to specific roles for the tournament.”
South Korea will fly to Osaka on Saturday and play official exhibition games there against two Japanese clubs, the Orix Buffaloes and the Hanshin Tigers, on Monday and Tuesday.
After Australia, South Korea will play Japan on March 10, the Czech Republic on March 12 and China on March 13.
The two best nations after round-robin action will advance to the quarterfinals, to be played at Tokyo Dome on March 15 and 16. They will go up against the two qualifiers from Pool A, made up of host Chinese Taipei, Cuba, Italy, Panama and the Netherlands.
The semifinals on March 19 and 20, and the final on March 21 will be played at LoanDepot Park, home of the Miami Marlins.
South Korea finished third at the inaugural WBC in 2006 and was the runner-up to Japan at the next edition in 2009. It crashed out of the opening rounds in both 2013 and 2017.
Source: Yonhap News Agency