I will read an article to you. The average age of the Korean national baseball team has significantly decreased as many new talents have joined. The team, outlined in the preliminary list, will lead Korean baseball from the Premier 12 in November to the World Baseball Classic (WBC) and the Los Angeles (LA) Olympics. The preliminary list for the 2024 Premier 12 ‘Team Korea,’ announced by the Korea Baseball Organization (KBO) on the 12th, includes 30 players born in the 2000s out of the 60 listed. It also features players born in the late 1990s to early 2000s, such as Yoon Gwang-ho, Kim Seo-hyun, Moon Dong-joo (all from Hanwha Eagles), Won Tae-in, Choi Ji-gwang, Hwang Dong-jae (all from Samsung Lions), Jung Hae-young, Kim Do-young (Kia Tigers), etc. The oldest player is born in 1991, Go Young-pyo (KT Wiz), with an average age of 24.8, significantly lower than the average age of 29.4 in the previous WBC. The Korea Baseball Organization (KBO) explained that the purpose of announcing this preliminary list is to enhance the competitiveness of young players who will lead Korean baseball in high-level international competitions through the Premier 12. The KBO aims to provide more opportunities to these young players, who were the backbone of the team that won four consecutive championships at the Hangzhou Asian Games last year. Instead of including active veterans in the league, many young players have joined the team. Although veteran pitchers like Yang Hyeon-jong (Kia) with an 11-3 record and a 3.78 ERA this season, and Ryu Hyun-jin (Hanwha) with a 9-8 record and a 3.8 ERA, have shown decent performances, they were not included in the list. The roster for the Premier 12 is subject to change. According to the regulations of the World Baseball Softball Confederation (WBSC), changes to the preliminary list are possible until the final entry confirmation. The deadline for submitting the final roster for the Premier 12 baseball team is October 11th. The KBO stated that they will continue to consider replacing players outside the preliminary list with those who may strengthen the team in positions where reinforcement is needed, based on factors such as this year’s KBO league performance and an analysis of the opponent countries’ strength. Feel free to contact sports journalist Jang Pil-soo at [email protected].
Baseball team ‘Team Korea’ significantly younger with average age 24.
