A small Korea-Japan match in St. Louis

Two players from the St. Louis Cardinals of the American Professional Baseball Major League (MLB) play together in the Group B match between Korea and Japan in the first round of the 5th World Baseball Classic (WBC) held at Tokyo Dome, Japan on March 10 (hereafter Korean time). meet the enemy The main characters are Korean second baseman Tommy Hyeonsu Edman (28) and Japanese outfielder Lars Nuthba (26).

Korea and Japan selected mixed-race big leaguers for the first time in the WBC national team. In the WBC, players can choose not only their nationality, but also their parents’ nationality and place of birth, so that the player himself can choose the country he wants to participate in. In the previous four tournaments, Korea and Japan formed their national teams only with their nationality players, but this time, they broke the principle of pure blood and put mixed-race players in the 30-man roster.

Edmund’s mother is Korean, and Nutba’s mother is Japanese. On the 15th and 16th, the two players revealed their feelings about participating in the WBC through interviews with St. Louis regional broadcasts and local media in the United States and Japan.

Edmund said, “It is an honor to be selected for the Korean national team for the first time as a Korean-American player. I will work hard so that Koreans can be proud of me,” he said. “I also started studying Korean. In the first round, mothers, grandmothers, sisters, wives, father-in-law, and mother-in-law all come. It will be a fun experience for the whole family.”

By the way, Edman’s wife is Japanese-American. However, Edman, who is already aware of the uniqueness of the Korea-Japan match, said cheerfully, “I am excited to be part of the rivalry between Korea and Japan.” 메이저사이트

Nuthba also said, “I am very honored. I don’t take it for granted,” he said. “It’s difficult to learn a new language in a month, but I’m studying. I want to go to Japan and pay homage to Japanese culture. I don’t want to leave a bad impression,” he said.

In defense, it is difficult to compare because of the different positions, but Edmund is better than Nutba in batting. Edmund, who made his debut in St. Louis in 2019, was a switch hitter with a batting average of 0.269, 471 hits, 40 homers, 175 RBIs, 79 stolen bases, and an OPS (on-base percentage + slugging percentage) of 0.732 in 459 games over four years. Nutba, a left-handed hitter, debuted in the big leagues in 2021 and recorded a batting average of 0.228, 66 hits, 14 homers, 40 RBIs, and an OPS of 0.788 in 108 games last year.