Reporter Lee Dae-ho = A list of 600 players from 20 countries who will participate in the 2023 World Baseball Classic (WBC), a baseball national competition featuring all baseball stars from around the world, has been released.

On the 10th (Korean time), the WBC secretariat announced the participating players through a live broadcast on the MLB.com homepage, the official major league website.

The 20 participating countries submitted the final list of 30 players to the WBC Secretariat on the 8th, when the entry deadline was reached.

The Korean national team has already confirmed the list of players including the coaching staff.

Among the 30 members of the Korean national baseball team announced on the 4th of last month, infielder Choi Ji-hoon was replaced by outfielder Choi Ji-hoon (SSG Landers) as his team, the Pittsburgh Pirates, refused to play.

As befits the world’s best baseball festival, the faces of the players participating in the tournament are also gorgeous.

According to the WBC Secretariat, out of a total of 600 players, 332 players belong to major league clubs, more than half of them.

There are 186 active big leaguers on the 40-man roster, and 67 MLB All-Stars.

There are 8 ‘stars among stars’ who have won the MLB Most Valuable Player (MVP).

Mike Trout (Los Angeles Angels), Paul Goldschmidt (St. Louis Cardinals), Mookie Betts, Clayton Kershaw (Los Angeles Dodgers, USA), Shohei Ohtani (Angels, Japan), Miguel Cabrera (Detroit Tigers), Jose Altuve (Detroit Tigers) MVP winners such as Houston Astros, Venezuela) and Freddie Freeman (Atlanta Braves, Canada) compete in the tournament with their country’s flag engraved on their chest.

Korea and Japan’s ‘active MVP’ will also be on the WBC.

Lee Jeong-hoo (Kiwoom Heroes), who won 5 KBO league batting crowns last season, is a ‘next-generation star’ that the WBC Secretariat is paying attention to.

Reporter John Moroshi, who appeared on the roster announcement live broadcast that day, said, “Lee Jung-hoo is a player who plays similarly to Ichiro. (WBC) will be a stage to advance one step further.” of the core,” he said.

MLB.com also said, “Trout and Ohtani, Julio Urias (Dodgers) and Betts, Sander Bohartz and Darvish Yu (above San Diego Padres), and Lee Jung-hoo and pitchers who could become his teammates next year are already fans. It enthralls them,” he said.

Murakami Munetaka (Yakult Swallows), who hit 56 homers last season and was selected as the youngest unanimous MVP of the Nippon Professional Baseball Central League, is expected to have a ‘Korean-Japanese genius hitter showdown’ with Lee Jung-hoo.

The WBC kicks off with the official opening match between Cuba and the Netherlands on March 8 and concludes with the final on the 22nd.

Korea, which belongs to Group B along with Australia, Japan, China and the Czech Republic, will challenge to pass the first round of the finals for the first time in 14 years since 2009.

Korea, led by coach Lee Kang-chul, is betting its life and death against Australia on March 9th.

This is because tickets to the quarterfinals are given to the second place in the group, so if only Australia is defeated, the rest of the schedule can be digested easily.

The Australian WBC national team, which had been shrouded in a veil, consisted mainly of players from its own league.

The only players with major league experience are right-handed pitcher Warwick Saupold and outfielder Aaron Whitefield (Angels), who previously played for the Hanwha Eagles.

Saupold has been playing for the Perth Heat in his home league since leaving Hanwha in 2020, and Whitefield has played 8 major league games and recorded no hits in 12 at-bats.

Japan is considered one of the favorites to win the tournament.

With Ohtani at the head, he built a team with the best stars in Nippon Professional Baseball in the big leagues, including Seiya Suzuki (Chicago Cubs), Darvish, Lars Nutba (St. Louis), and Masataka Yoshida (Boston Red Sox).

China’s core strength is sovereignty (kt wiz), former Softbank Hawks outfielder Masago Yusuke, and Angels prospect Alan Carter, who throws a ball in the mid-150 km/h range.

Korea’s last opponent in the first round, the Czech Republic, built a team mainly of amateur league players, and former major league infielder Eric Sogard is the only player with major league experience.

The United States, which won the 2017 competition, formed a super-luxurious member.

The fielding team has all-star players representing MLB at all positions, but it is evaluated that the starting pitcher’s strength is relatively less than that of fielders. 먹튀검증

Puerto Rico, which recently finished runner-up in two consecutive tournaments, won its first championship with a team of stars led by coach Yadier Molina, Javier Baez (Detroit), Francisco Lindor, Edwin Diaz (both New York Mets), and Marcus Stroman (Cubs). to challenge

With Cabrera, Salvador Perez (Kansas City Royals), Jose Altuve (Houston), and Ronald Acuna Jr. (Atlanta), Venezuela boasts a strong batting line.

Here, Juan Soto, Manny Machado (above San Diego), Vladimir Guerrero Jr. (Toronto Blue Jays), Rafael Devers (Boston), and Julio Rodriguez (Seattle Mariners) sortie in the ‘killer lineup’ last year’s Cy Young Award winner Sandy Alcantara ( Miami Marlins), Christian Javier (Houston), and veteran Johnny Cueto (Miami), the Dominican Republic, are also good candidates to win.

The Netherlands, a European powerhouse that reached the semifinals in two tournaments in 2013 and 2017, boasts a splendid squad again this time.

Vladimir Valentin, who hit 60 homers, the most in a single season in Japanese professional baseball, will be scrambled against Sander Bohartz (San Diego), Yonatan Schoff (Detroit), and Kenley Jansen (Boston).

Cuba, Korea’s ‘potential quarterfinal opponent’, selected even players who defected abroad as representatives from this tournament.

Louis Robert and Yoann Moncada (Chicago White Sox), as well as active major leaguers, and Yoenis Cespedes and Alfredo Despaine, who are familiar in Korea as regular players in international competitions, were included in the roster.