I had a funny conversation with a friend tonight during which I told him who Ichiro was. He’s not Korean or Japanese, but Canadian, and even though he tangentially follows baseball through EWC, he’s not a baseball fan and had no idea who Ichiro was. 

As we ate daegi-guk-bab (pork stew) the news played on a big screen TV to the side. A headline read “Korea 4 Japan 3.” Of course it wasn’t the score of a game, but the score of the all WBC team, which was announced today. Four Koreans made the team — Lee Bum-ho, Kim Hyun-soo, Bong Jung Keun, and Kim Tae-keun, who was one of two unanimous selections to the team. The other was Cuba’s Frederich Cepeda.

Before you think I’m flying off the handle again, the Korean media has handled the team’s loss with grace, stressing how terrific the team played in getting to the final at all, and recognizing the fact that Korean baseball is now respected around the world.  

There have been a number of articles in the mainstream press (see NYT article here) about Korean baseball, most of which pontificate on the fact that there aren’t many Koreans in MLB. That’s both true and untrue. Park Chan-ho, who yesterday struck out seven in four innings,is likely to be named the 5th starter for the world champion Philadelphia Phillies. WBC team member Choo Shin-soo is primed for a breakout season that could see him (I think) flirt with 20 HRs and 20 SBs. The Padres Baek Cha-sung will begin the season in the starting rotation, and Ryu Jae-kuk has an outside shot at making the team’s opening day roster. Here’s an article by a Padres beat writer for the San Diego Union Tribune that wonders alloud if the home team couldn’t use a few Koreans. He fails to mention Baek or Ryu in the piece. Oops. 

Of course as someone scouting in Korea this all piques my interest. My bosses were recently quoted in a Chicago Tribune article – I guess it’s fair to say “we’ve” known for a while, but a lot of teams don’t, or haven’t anyway.

hat, promised one National League scout who has followed South Korea throughout the WBC, is about to change.

From one unnamed National League scout quoted in the LA Times:

“I’ve been surprised. I think a lot of people have,” said the scout, whose team forbids him from speaking on the record. “Maybe I was just ignorant. I was ignorant. If you don’t think some of these Koreans can play in the big leagues, then that’s prejudice.”

Maybe not prejudice…just bad baseball scouting. There are a number of new readers here at EWC — this growth started when this LA Times article quoted me and referred to EWC, and culminated with yesterday’s Japan vs. Korea final, which ended up as the second largest day (views wise) in the history of the site. I’m not the type to blow my own horn when it comes to numbers of people visiting EWC, but I can almost guarantee that until the WBC, the Top 20 days in the history of EWC were spawned by links via MLB Traderumors and/or Deadspin.

As I’ve mentioned before, going into 2009 the Cubs have four Koreans signed by my bosses within the last couple of years. They are pitchers Rhee Dae-eun and Jung Su-min, shortstop Lee Hak-ju, and outfielder Ha Jae-hoon. And there’s more on the way..wink wink. I’ll be following the progress of all four during the 2009 season.

I’m ready to write about something besides the WBC now. This isn’t to say there won’t be another post or two coming up, but for the most part it’s time to close the door, welcome the 2009 seasons of MLB, NPB, KBO, and CPBL, and get back to our regularly scheduled meanderings.