Will Ha-seong Kim and Xander Bogarts (above San Diego Padres) meet in the WBC quarterfinals? It’s not an impossible scenario.

Kim Ha-seong returns home via Incheon International Airport on the 1st and participates in the training of the Korean baseball team at Gocheok Sky Dome in Seoul on the 2nd. He is a second baseman on his team, but will be Korea’s main shortstop in the upcoming WBC. He first teamed up with Korean-American Tommy Edman (St. Louis Cardinals).

Such Kim Ha-seong and Bogatz, who pushed Kim Ha-seong to second base in San Diego, can have a ‘shortstop confrontation’ in the WBC quarterfinals. Korea is in Group B of the first round along with Japan, Australia, China and the Czech Republic. The Netherlands will face Taiwan, Cuba, Panama and Italy in Group A.

Korea is likely to be second in Group B in terms of objective strength. It seems that it is not easy to go beyond Japan. The reason coach Lee Kang-chul focused on Australia was because there was a sense of crisis that if he lost to Australia, he could be eliminated in the first round because the game against Japan was not easy. It is true that Australia’s objective power is slightly inferior to Korea’s. But it’s not a huge difference. The insider’s point of view is that the outcome of the match is unknown.

The Netherlands is a strong candidate for first place in Group A. Cuba, the strongest player in Amaya, is slightly weaker than in previous years. Rather, the home team, Taiwan, is an ambush. If the Netherlands beat Cuba and Taiwan in turn, one of the WBC quarterfinal matchups could be South Korea and the Netherlands. Korea is also continuing to search for the strength of Group A countries.

In the Netherlands, KIA-born outfielder Roger Bernardina, who is familiar to KBO League fans as well as Jonathan Scoop (Detroit Tigers), former major league shortstop Didi Gregorius, and Vladimir Valentin, who set a record home run race in Japan, are holding out. Bogaerts is, of course, the main shortstop in the Netherlands.안전놀이터

Bogatz has yet to join the national team. He signed a large contract with San Diego for 11 years and $280 million (about 367.4 billion won) in the 2022-2023 free agent market, and is warming up in an exhibition game. On the 2nd (hereinafter Korean time), he started as the first shortstop against the Texas Rangers held at Peoria Stadium in Peoria, Arizona, USA, and recorded 1 walk with no hits in 1 at bat.

His exhibition game performance was 9 at-bats, 1 hit, 0.111 batting average, 1 RBI, 2 runs scored. Of course, his performance is not important, and it can be seen as a process of preparing for the opening game of Group A against Cuba on the 8th at 13:00. When will Bogarts, who is considered one of the best offensive shortstops in the major leagues, get back on track? If he wants to face Ha-Sung Kim in the quarterfinals, he needs to pick up the pace a bit more.

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