Did he recall his high school memories? Park Kun-woo showed off his extraordinary presence ahead of the World Baseball Classic (WBC).스포츠토토

Park Gun-woo started as designated hitter number 10 in a practice match between the WBC national team and SSG Landers team 2 held at Gocheok Sky Dome on the 3rd.

The game on this day was a practice game, and various irregularities were made due to the circumstances of the national team with the tournament imminent. Both teams had 10 hitters, including two designated hitters, at bat. Hyeon-Jong Yang, Yoon-Sik Kim, So-Jun Sohn, Woo-Young Jung, Ui-Ri Lee, and Gwang-Hyeon Kim, Kwak Bin, Se-Woong Park, Cheol-Won Lee, Cheol-Won Jeong, Woo-Seok Kim, and Won-Jung Kim started as SSG pitchers. Catcher Lee Ji-young played for SSG in the early part of the game and for the national team in the second half.

Before the match, Choi Jeong was withdrawn from the entry due to poor physical condition. Kim Ha-seong and Tommy Hyeon-soo Edman were banned from participating in the WBC giant slalom due to the MLB Secretariat limiting their participation in two official practice matches.

The national team was originally scheduled to have defensive coach Kim Min-jae as third baseman, but he was replaced by Park Gun-woo. Park Gun-woo switched from infield to outfield during his Seoul High School days.

Even in unpredictable situations, such as a grounder hit in front of the pitcher, he handled the defense of third base more smoothly than expected. He also promptly handled a ground ball that flowed into the third interval ahead of shortstop Oh Ji-hwan. However, SSG Choi Sang-min’s surprise bunt at first base in the 6th inning showed a clear sense of embarrassment. Laughter erupted from the national team bench. In the beginning of the 7th inning, he was replaced by his right fielder.

In the at-bat, he hit a 1-run double that hit the right fence of Gocheok Dome directly from 1 out 3 base at the end of the 5th inning, and in the 7th inning, he hit a solo home run over the center wall against Cheol-Won Jeong. Although he has a formidable long-running power enough to hit double-digit home runs in six of the last seven seasons, it is unique that he hit the only home run of the day, beating out big guns representing the KBO league, such as Park Byeong-ho, Lee Jung-hoo, Na Seong-beom, and Yang Eui-ji.

In the 9th inning, he scored 4 RBIs by hitting a 2 RBI double that directly hit the fence in the middle right from the 1st and 2nd base chance without a hit, and he played an unrivaled performance among the hitters on both teams that day. It was the best hitting feeling for his national team.

On this day, the national team, which Park Kun-woo and Oh Ji-hwan combined for 6 hits and 7 RBIs, won a comfortable 10-2 victory over the SSG 2nd team.