'2023 Shinhan Bank SOL KBO Postseason' between the NC Dinos and SSG Landers at SSG Landers Field in Munhak-dong, Michuhol-gu, Incheon, on Oct. 22.
Shin Min-hyuk (24-NC Dinos), who will compete in the Asian Professional Baseball Championship (APBC) as a substitute, has vowed to make a meaningful contribution to his first national team.
The Korean baseball team, led by head coach Ryu Jung-il, departed for Tokyo, Japan, on Thursday morning through Gimpo Airport.
The APBC, now in its second year, is an exchange tournament for players aged 24 or younger or in their third year of professional baseball from four Asian countries - Korea, Japan, Taiwan and Australia.
Shin didn't make the initially announced roster. Instead, he was added to the reserve roster and trained with the team in Daegu, Korea, before being named to the final roster as an alternate when players from the LG Twins and KT Wiz, who played in the Korean Series, were unable to participate.
"I got the call (to join the final roster) later, but I didn't expect to be selected," Shin told reporters before departing. "It's my first time on the national team, and I want to do well, and I want to grow one step further through this tournament."
Shin has emerged as NC's homegrown ace in this year's postseason. He started the first game of the semi-finals against SSG Landers in place of an unwell Eric Peddie and tossed 5⅔ scoreless innings, and won the second game of the playoffs against KT with 6⅓ scoreless innings.
NC's Pedi comforts Shin Min-hyuk after the reverse sweep during the baseball '2023 Shinhan Bank SOL KBO Postseason' playoff game between KT Wiz and NC Dinos at Suwon KT Wiz Park in Jowon-dong, Jangan-gu, Suwon-si, Gyeonggi-do, on Friday afternoon.
Shin Min-hyuk said, "I learned a lot through fall baseball, and I want to come back to this tournament to learn how to run a game. I have no difficulty in playing the game because I played fall baseball," he said confidently.
"My fellow pitchers helped me adjust to the national team, and (Kim) Young-kyu knows (Oh) Won-seok well, so I got to know the other players quickly," he explained.
Shin Min-hyuk was nicknamed "Little Pedi" because he wore a similar pitching form to his teammate Pedi. In fact, spending a season with him taught him a lot.
"Whenever I had a question, I would ask him, and I learned a lot, especially about pitching changeups," says Shin. "It's not bad to be nicknamed after a top pitcher. I want to do better in the future." If Shin can carry over the momentum he showed in the fall baseball season to the APBC, it will be a big help on the mound.
Meanwhile, Korea will play its first game against Australia on April 16, followed by Japan on April 17 and Chinese Taipei on April 18. After the four teams play a pool league, the top two teams will compete for the championship. 토토사이트
