Yesterday’s comrades who played together in an MLB event became tomorrow’s enemies.
Ashton Lansdell (22), who participated in the ‘MLB Home Run Derby X’ held in September last year with Jung Geun-woo, former ‘national second baseman’ and head coach of the Korean women’s national baseball team, was selected for the US women’s national baseball team. At that time, Rensdel played the game wearing a LA Dodgers uniform with coach Jung Geun-woo. But now it has become an enemy to face in world competitions.
The American Baseball Association announced on the 14th (Korean time) the final 20 players who will participate in the ‘2023 World Baseball World Cup’ (WBSC) to be held in Thunder Bay, Canada in August. Including Ransdel here.
Ransdel is a ‘morning star’ who was selected for the US national baseball team at the age of 17. Rancedell, who doubles as a pitcher, played 5 games in the 2022 international competition, recording a batting average of 0.412, an on-base percentage of 0.444, and a slugging percentage of 0.941 with 7 hits and 6 RBIs. He also revealed that his best speed was 136 km/h.안전놀이터
Calcia Whitmore, the first female player to sign with an American minor league team. photo source | Whitmore Social Network Service (SNS).
America’s first female professional baseball player, Kelsie Whitmore, 25, was also selected. Whitmore signed with the Staten Island FerryHawks, an American minor league team, in April of last year. She is the first female player to sign with a professional team.
Olivia Pichardo, 19, of Brown University, who is playing in the D1 league, the top level of the university, for the first time as a woman, was also selected.
“Her pro contract at Whitmore was a huge step for a woman playing baseball,” Lance Dell said in an exclusive written interview with Sports Seoul last year. We women have proven that we can compete at a high level. Also, Pichar is also the first woman to play in the D1 league, the upper level of the university. It’s beautiful to see Whitmore and Picardo and other women break down barriers to play baseball,” she said.
Players participating in the Home Run Derby pose before a press conference for the ‘FTX MLB Home Run Derby X Seoul’ held at Paradise City Culture Park in Incheon on the 16th. 2022. 9. 16. Yeongjong Island | Reporter Choi Seung-seop thunder@sportsseoul.com
Along with Rensdel, Alex Hugo (28), who visited Korea for ‘Home Run Derby X’ last year, was also selected. Hugo played in 7 games (all games) in the American continental tournament ‘Pan America’ and recorded a batting average of 0.652, 18 RBIs, 4 home runs, 15 hits, and 6 stolen bases, leading the United States to the championship.
Hugo had an exclusive written interview with Sports Seoul last year, in which he praised the South Korean women’s national baseball team. Hugo said, “I felt the passion and dedication they have for baseball.”
The U.S. women’s baseball team is ranked fourth in the world. Recently, Japan, the United States, and Canada have been somewhat behind in the rankings, but they are the World Baseball World Cup 1st (2004) and 2nd (2006) champions. In the World Baseball World Cup held a total of eight times, all but the most recent tournament, the eighth (2018), were ranked in the top three. The U.S. formed the strongest force to regain the trophy lost to Japan repeatedly.
On the other hand, the Korean women’s baseball team (ranked 10th in the world), led by former professional baseball Lotte and LG head coach Yang Sang-moon, belonged to the same Group A as the United States at the ‘2023 World Baseball World Cup’. The national team will play the second group match against the United States on August 9 at 11:30 am (local time).