Waking up from hibernation, professional baseball slowly stretches. Ten professional baseball teams set up overseas spring camps for the first time in three years and prepare for this season.
From the 29th, the 10 KBO League teams will leave for field training in the United States, Japan, and Australia. In the aftermath of Corona 19, I trained in winter in Korea for the past two years, but when the corona showed signs of calming down, I decided to set up a warm overseas camp again.
The preferred place for Korean professional baseball teams is, of course, the United States. Seven clubs chose the United States as their base camp location. SSG Landers, the team that won the championship last year, trains in Vero Beach, Florida. This is a place I have often visited since the days of the former SK Wyverns. In addition, Kiwoom Heroes, LG Twins, KT Wiz, and KIA Tigers are also preparing for this season in the United States. These three teams are all teams that competed in fall baseball last year. Kiwoom and LG will conduct battery training in Scottsdale, Arizona, and KT and KIA in Tucson, Arizona. NC Dinos and Hanwha Eagles are also heading to Tucson and Mesa, Arizona, respectively. The Lotte Giants set up their base camp in Guam, an American territory.
KBO clubs have recently preferred the United States as a field training ground. Although the burden has increased more than before due to the strong dollar, it is evaluated that there is no place like the United States with a warm climate and an atmosphere where you can only focus on baseball. Compared to other countries, it is easy to choose the opponent team for the evaluation match. An official from a club who went on a preliminary tour of the United States last year said, “It is true that it costs more compared to nearby countries such as Japan. However, considering the fact that the spring camp was held overseas after a long time, I chose the United States. Above all, the baseball environment is excellent, and the atmosphere of the team can be renewed.”
As the popularity of field training in the United States increased, Japan, which was popular as a traditional spring camp location, became quiet. Only the Samsung Lions are heading to Onna Village, Okinawa. SSG, KIA, Lotte, and Hanwha chose Japan as their second base camp.
The Doosan Bears, under new manager Lee Seung-yeop, chose Australia as the only team. Reconstruction begins in Blacktown, Sydney, Australia, not in the United States or Japan. 안전놀이터
On the other hand, the training site for the national team to be held ahead of the World Baseball Classic (WBC), which opens in March, is also attracting attention. The national baseball team, led by coach Lee Kang-cheol, will start training on the 14th of next month at the Kino Sports Complex in Tucson, Arizona. It is a place used by KT and KIA as spring camps. Director Lee Kang-cheol, who is also the KT command tower, will officially lead the national team convocation training from this day. Then, the national team will return to Korea on March 1st, work together for two days, and then head to Japan, the land of the final battle, on the 4th. A KBO official said, “Anyway, the weather in the United States is nice and the training environment is pleasant. In addition, there are many KBO League clubs, so it is convenient to schedule practice games with the national team.”
Meanwhile, some players left for a warm country early in order to complete the local adaptation as soon as possible. Lotte and SSG dispatched the first teams to Guam and Vero Beach on the 20th and 25th, respectively, and WBC national team players such as Park Byung-ho, Oh Ji-hwan, Lee Jeong-hoo, Won Tae-in, So Hyeong-jun, and Lee Eui-ri also moved to their team’s spring camp in advance to get fit. went in