Right-hander Nick Martinez (33, San Diego Padres), who overwhelmed the Korean national team’s batting line at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, will participate in the 2023 World Baseball Classic (WBC) as the US representative.
American media outlets such as the Associated Press reported on the 20th (Korean time) that Clayton Kershaw (35, LA Dodgers) was excluded from the US WBC team and Martinez would join.
Martinez is recording an average ERA of 4.50 with 8 saves and 10 holds in 135 games over 5 seasons in his big league career. Last year, he returned to San Diego after 4 years of Japanese professional baseball and played a key role in the bullpen with 4 wins, 4 losses, 8 saves and 8 holds, an average ERA of 3.47 in 47 games. 먹튀검증
He is also familiar to Korean baseball fans. Martinez participated in the 2021 Tokyo Olympics and started in the second game against Korea in Group B of the opening round, showing excellent pitching with 4 hits, 9 strikeouts and 1 run in 5 innings.
In Korea, led by manager Kim Gyeong-moon (65), in the first inning Park Hae-min (33, LG Twins) and Lee Jung-hoo (25, Kiwoom Heroes) scored consecutive hits against Martinez, giving them a chance to secure 1st and 3rd base. Then, when Kim Hyun-soo (35, LG Twins) grounded the infield, he got the first point and started the game pleasantly.
However, Korea failed to score additional points as Kang Baek-ho (24, KT Wiz) and Yang Eui-ji (37, Doosan Bears) struck out in succession to Martinez in the continued one-run first base after gaining the first point. After that, he failed to attack the American pitching team, including Martinez, and fell on his knees with a score of 2-4.
Martinez did his part in the Tokyo Olympics final against Japan with 5 hits, 7 strikeouts and 1 run in 6 innings.
Martinez returned to the major leagues in the US with his strong pitching at the Tokyo Olympics, and has been eating rice with Kim Ha-seong (28) in San Diego since last year.
Initially, he announced his intention to participate in the 2023 WBC, but with Kershaw’s departure and the US national team’s coaching staff’s persuasion, he changed his mind and played with the best active big leaguers with the goal of winning the WBC.
Kershaw, one of the best pitchers of the live bowl era, hoped to step on the mound as the first American national representative in his career at this WBC, but unexpected insurance problems hindered him.
Since the WBC is held before the opening of the regular leagues of the US Major League, Japanese professional baseball, and Korean professional baseball, there is a high risk of injury to players. For this reason, the WBC Secretariat is making it compulsory for major league players to purchase insurance in preparation for the possibility of a player getting injured during the tournament.
However, the insurance company concluded that it could not pay insurance money even if Kershaw was injured while pitching in the WBC based on Kershaw’s injury history in recent years, and Kershaw withdrew from the WBC.