’46-year-old’ Oxspring joins the WBC Australia team… However, why can’t I appear in the Korean War?

 The final entry of 30 Australians, who are attracting attention as Korea’s first opponent in the 2023 World Baseball Classic (WBC), has been released. 

On the 10th (hereinafter Korean time), the WBC Organizing Committee released the list of players from 20 countries participating in the 5th WBC through the MLB Network broadcast. The participating countries completed the submission of the final entry of 30 people in line with the deadline on the 8th. 

Korea and Japan both released their final entries early last month. On the other hand, Australia, the first opponent of Korea in the same Group B on the 9th of next month, passed the deadline without an announcement and drew attention, and 30 players were revealed that day. 15 pitchers and fielders were equally selected. 

Looking at the name value alone, it is far from the strongest power. Outfielder Aaron Whitefield (LA Angels) is the only player on the 40-man roster in the major leagues. Except for Robbie Glendining, an outfielder for the Kansas City Royals who hit 22 homers in Double-A last year, there are no outstanding prospects. 

Chicago White Sox special closer Liam Hendricks had to leave because he was suffering from non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, a type of blood cancer. Left-handed pitchers Louis Thorpe and Alex Wells, who had major league experience, were also absent. Infielder Curtis Mead (Tampa Bay Rays), a minor league prospect, was also dropped to메이저사이트 prepare for his big league debut. 

Former major leaguers include right-handed pitcher Warwick Saupold from the KBO League. Serupold, who worked as a reliever for the Detroit Tigers for three years in 2016-2018, also experienced the KBO League as a member of the Hanwha Eagles in 2019-2020. This season, he won 3 wins and lost 2 in 10 games with the Australian Perth Heat, with an ERA of 5.56. Although he has passed his prime, he still throws a threatening ball on scratch days, and it is predicted that he will be able to pitch in the Korean War. 

Another former major leaguer is Chris Oxspring, a right-handed pitcher from the KBO League. In 2005, after a short year of major league experience with the San Diego Padres, he played an active part in the KBO League for 5 years, passing through the LG Twins in 2007-2008, the Lotte Giants in 2013-2014, and the KT Wiz in 2015. From 2016 to 2018, he served as the pitching coach for the 1st and 2nd teams of Lotte, and also served as the Australian national team pitching coach during the Premier 12 in 2019. 

Born in 1977 and 46 years old, Oxspring retired as a player after the 2019-2020 season. However, he made a surprise comeback as a Sydney Blue Sox player this season and announced his health. He pitched 29⅓ innings, pitching in relief in all 13 games, and pitched 1 loss with an earned run average of 2.15 and 29 strikeouts. Although the ball is not fast with an average fastball of 130 km, he showed a stable command while controlling the pace mainly with breaking balls. 

However, Oxspring was included in the reserve list as a designated pitcher pool, not a 30-man entry. The WBC introduced a system called the designated pitcher pool from the 2017 tournament. Up to 10 pitchers can be registered within the 50-man reserve entry, and 2 pitchers can be replaced per round. A pitcher who has been replaced cannot play in the next round. Oxspring, who fell out of the first round entry, is unable to appear in the first game against Korea as he can play after the second round.