Korea manager wants players to feel proud ahead of tournament opener

Korea manager Ryu Ji hyun attends a press conference ahead of the World Baseball Classic at Tokyo Dome in Tokyo, Wednesday, in this photo distributed by The Yomiuri Shimbun. Yonhap

TOKYO — With his team’s first game of the World Baseball Classic (WBC) just around the corner, Korea manager Ryu Ji-hyun said Thursday he wants the players to take pride in their abilities.

Korea will begin Pool C play against Czechia at Tokyo Dome at 7 p.m. Thursday. The national team has had a long buildup, with Ryu first running a preliminary camp in January in Saipan before taking his final group of players to the southwestern Japanese prefecture of Okinawa for another camp. Korea then played two exhibition games in Osaka and arrived in Tokyo on Tuesday.

“I’ve spent a long time with them, and along the way, I tried to create an atmosphere where the players can feel proud of being part of the greatest national team ever,” Ryu said at his pregame press conference. “And things have been building up consistently to this point.”

Ryu said this was time for him to stay in the background and let coaches deliver whatever message that needs to be shared with the players.

“I just have to keep faith in my players going forward,” the manager added.

To that end, Ryu is sticking to the same lineup that defeated the Orix Buffaloes 8-5 in Korea’s final exhibition game on Tuesday.

Kim Do-yeong, who homered in that game, will lead off, followed by Jahmai Jones and Lee Jung-hoo. Ahn Hyun-min, who blasted a no-doubter of a solo shot against the Buffaloes, will bat cleanup.

Moon Bo-gyeong, Shay Whitcomb, Kim Hye-seong, Park Dong-won and Kim Ju-won will follow.

Lee, captain of the national team entering his third season with the San Francisco Giants, is widely considered Korea’s top contact hitter who can also offer some gap power. Ryu said he expects Czechia to be careful with Lee, and he wanted to surround the outfielder with right-handed power hitters in Jones and Ahn.

“I felt this will give us more balance,” the manager said. “They produced good results in the exhibition game and now that we will be facing some tough left-handed pitchers, it will help us to have a mix of left-handed and right-handed batters.”

Right-handers So Hyeong-jun and Jeong Woo-joo will be the first two pitchers for Korea, with the bullpen plan after those two depending on the score and the game situation. Ryu revealed both So and Jeong will not go over 50 pitches.

During the WBC’s first round, pitchers who toss more than 50 pitches must sit out for four days. With Korea playing its final game on Monday, having these pitchers go beyond the limit will rule them out for the rest of the tournament — not an ideal scenario for a team already missing some key pitchers due to injuries.

Korea is also trying to make it out of the first round for the first time since 2009. At the next three editions of the WBC, Korea lost its first games and could never climb out of those early holes.

“We all understand the importance of the first game,” Ryu said. “We ran several simulations and we will be operating within that framework and try to stay prepared for variables that could arise.”