Seo Will Play in Baseball Classic

Seo Jae-eung of New York Mets officially expressed his wish to attend the World Baseball Classic in March to Korean Baseball Organization (KBO) officials yesterday.

On December 5, the KBO announced the 29 players named to the World Baseball Classic team, leaving a room for Seo.

His inclusion on the team makes this the strongest Korean baseball dream team ever. Seo returns to the national team for the first time in eight years since the 1998 Bangkok Asian Games where Korea won the gold in baseball.

The attention of baseball fans all over was focused on Seo’s decision because it was hard to find a pitcher with Seo’s capacity among the team’s 13-pitcher lineup.

Seo mostly played in the minor leagues for the first half of last year; moving to the major league later. Seo ended the season satisfactorily with 8 wins, 2 losses, and an ERA of 2.59.

National team manager Kim In-shik (Hanwha) also expressed his expectations, saying, “I would like Seo to pitch the match against Taiwan, which is the gateway to the main round.”

Seo is likely to start the match against Taiwan on March 3 at Japan’s Tokyo Dome.

Seo will start his personal training in Florida early this month, and then later join the overseas spring training camp run by Kia. He will also be joining the national team’s training camp in Fukuoka, Japan starting February 19.

Seo explained his decision to join the national team by saying, “A lot of fans preferred me to train hard during the winter so that I can have another good run in the big leagues next season. But since my country wanted me, I decided to participate and do what I can.”