Na Seong-beom, who participated in the WBC for the first time, “I will hit Ohtani long”
On May 7, 2013, Masan Stadium in Changwon, Gyeongsangnam-do. The national anthem was sung before the start of the match. Na Seong-beom (34, KIA), who was about to make his debut on the 1st team stage as a professional baseball NC, closed his eyes instead of putting his hand on his chest. And he prayed, ‘Let me play well today’. However, on this day, Na Seong-beom had no hits in 4 at-bats against Hanwha, which ranked 8th in the league, and the team lost 4-8. It was a debut match that was very different from what he hoped for, but Na Seong-beom never stopped praying. 메이저사이트
After transferring to KIA after gaining qualification as a free agent (FA), before the LG match on April 2 last year, his first game, Seong-beom Na closed his eyes and repeated, “Please let me do well.” This time he was 2-for-4, including one double. Na Seong-beom, who started the 2022 season like this, helped KIA, which finished 9th in the previous season, step on the postseason stage after 4 years with a batting average of 0.320 (180 hits in 563 at bats), 21 homers and 97 RBIs. He also won his third Golden Glove (outfielder) in seven years since 2015.
Na Seong-beom was named in the final entry (30 people) of the 2023 World Baseball Classic (WBC) national team announced on the 4th of this month. He has been selected for the 2014 Asian Games and the 2015 World Baseball Softball Confederation (WBSC) Premier 12 national team, but this is the first time he has been selected for the WBC national team. In a phone call on the 17th, Na Seong-beom said, “If there is a World Cup in soccer, there is a WBC in baseball.” I’m glad I was chosen when I could show my skills before I got older.” He also said, “As long hits are my strong point, I will make sure I can score points in clutch (RBI opportunity) situations.” Na Seong-beom led the final RBI in the 2015, 2017, and 2020 seasons.
There was a setback once, so this opportunity comes more valuable. Na Seong-beom was included in the preliminary entry (50 players) announced ahead of the 2017 WBC, but he was not named in the final entry (28 players). In 2016, in 4 Korean Series games against Doosan, he suffered a batting average of 0.143 (2 hits in 14 at-bats), showing weakness in big games.
Na Seong-beom led the team to the postseason by hitting 34 homers in the 2020 season. In six games of the Korean Series against Doosan Lee Hae, he recorded 11 hits, including one home run, and tasted a combined victory. The batter with the highest batting average (0.458) in the Korean Series was Na Seong-beom. Na Seong-beom said, “When I was eliminated from the WBC team in 2017, I collapsed. However, he was an opportunity to make more efforts in anticipation of the next WBC appearance.”
As it is the first and last WBC tournament, Na Seong-beom’s resolution is different. In particular, regarding the confrontation with Japan on March 10th, Na Seong-beom said, “Japan really wants to win. I want to throw a long hit against Shohei Ohtani (29, Los Angeles Angels, photo), the best pitcher of the Japanese national team.”
Na Seong-beom started batting training about 20 days earlier than usual. He said, “I am not just increasing the weight in order to send the ball farther. Strength is important for him, but he has to hit the ball accurately to go far, so he is putting more effort into batting training.” He also said, “I will believe in myself and swing my bat no matter what pitcher I meet at the WBC.”