Will 'Kim Kyung-munho' Submarine Strategy Work... Ko Young-pyo Expected as Starter Against the US

by Lee Jonggil

Published 31 Jul.2021 12:53(KST)

Updated 31 Jul.2021 12:59(KST)

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The US Leads with SoftBank's Nick Martinez

[Image source=Yonhap News]

The baseball national team, aiming for a winning streak, will face the United States led by Ko Young-pyo (kt). The team, managed by Kim Kyung-moon, announced Ko Young-pyo as the starting pitcher for the second game of the 2020 Tokyo Olympics baseball Group B preliminary round, held on the 31st at Yokohama Stadium in Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan. He is a right-handed underhand pitcher who started fourteen games this season, recording a 7-4 win-loss record with an earned run average of 3.87.

Korean baseball often deploys submarine pitchers when facing the United States and Latin American countries in international competitions, due to opposing batters' unfamiliarity with pitches rising from below. Coach Jung Dae-hyun is a representative success story. As a senior at Kyung Hee University during the 2000 Sydney Olympics, he started two games against the United States, pitching 13⅓ innings with an earned run average of 1.35. Excluding the Asia Series, he appeared in fifteen games across six international tournaments, recording 1 win, 2 saves, 27 strikeouts, and an earned run average of 1.80. Notably, in the 2008 Beijing Olympics final, he entered the game in the ninth inning with one out and bases loaded in a one-run game, and induced a double play against Cuba's Yulieski Gurriel. In this tournament, Ko Young-pyo and Choi Won-joon (Doosan) have taken on this important role.

The United States will present Nick Martinez. He is a right-handed pitcher who started eleven games this season for the SoftBank Hawks in Nippon Professional Baseball, achieving a 7-2 record with an earned run average of 2.03. Over 71 innings, he recorded seventy-two strikeouts, demonstrating excellent pitching power and control. His main weapons are a fastball around 150 km/h and a changeup. With effective pitch combinations, there is almost no difference in batting average against right-handed hitters (0.228) and left-handed hitters (0.224).