Chinese Taipei, Japan loom large as Korea opens U-18 Asian baseball title bid
Korea begins the U-18 Asian Baseball Championship in Taipei against the host before possibly facing a formidable Japanese squad, with KBO scouts closely tracking draft-eligible prospects.
The national team pitchers who will take the mound at the 14th Asian Youth Baseball ChampionshipKO BONG-JUN
Korea began its bid to seize the Asian U-18 baseball crown on Monday in Taipei, where it will likely face two heavyweights: a Japanese squad its own coach calls the most well-rounded in the tournament and a host Chinese Taipei team that already dethroned Japan two years ago.
The 14th BFA U-18 Asian Championship, open only to players 18 and under, will field eight countries, including Korea, Japan, Taiwan, the Philippines, Singapore and Thailand. Korea and Japan share the record for the most titles in the tournament's history — Korea has won five times, in 1996, 2003, 2009, 2014 and 2018 — and Korea's goal this time is again the title, though the road there looks steep.
At the youth national team's training camp in Ulsan on Aug. 31, the 18-man squad and coaching staff gathered in a third-floor meeting room after dinner to squeeze in a scouting-report session in whatever spare time they had. On the agenda that evening: footage from a practice game between Japan's youth national team and a university all-star squad.
The players, worn out from a full day of morning and afternoon training, had heavy eyelids, but they kept their focus as they watched the pitchers who appeared in the footage, including left-hander Oda Shoki, regarded as Japan's top ace. At the 108th Koshien tournament last month, Oda threw a complete-game shutout over 123 pitches, hitting a top speed of 156 kilometers (97 miles) per hour and catching the eye of MLB scouts. The weather wasn't ideal for that particular scrimmage, so the pitchers who appeared weren't necessarily performing at 100 percent, but Shoki's precise command and sharp breaking balls were clearly worth watching closely.
"Japan has the most well-rounded roster," coach Jung Youn-jin said. "Between Oda, Maeda Yuto and Sugimoto Mahiro, there isn't a single easy pitcher to face." He added, "Taiwan is the same story. They won the last edition of this tournament — they beat Japan. And just like two years ago, they'll have home-field advantage again this time. It's especially nerve-wracking that our first game is against Taiwan."
Korea, in Group B, will play its group-stage games against Taiwan on Monday, Singapore on Tuesday and Thailand on Wednesday. It will then face the top two finishers from Group A — where Japan plays — in succession to determine whether it advances to the final. Games will be played over seven innings rather than nine.
Korea has also mobilized every available player at its disposal. Led by Busan High School ace Ha Hyun-seung and Deoksu High School two-way player Eom Jun-sang, the roster brings together players who stood out in high school baseball this year, including Park Geun-seo of Seoul Design High School, Yoon Ye-sung of Inchang High School, Won Ji-woo of Gangneung High School, Lee Ho-min of Gyeongnam High School and Hwang Seong-hyun of Deoksu High School. With only six pitchers on the roster, Ha will pitch exclusively, while Eom, who will play shortstop, will only be available to pitch if needed.
Head coach Jung Youn-jin, right, gives instructions to players during trainingKO BONG-JUN
Eom, serving as team captain for this tournament, said, "I was captain at Deoksu High School too, but being captain of the national team is different. Since this team is made up of players who are each the core of their own school's team, I've been working to make sure everyone comes together well."
He added, "Last year, as a second-year player at the 32nd World Baseball Softball Confederation U-18 Baseball World Cup, I made several fielding errors. That's stayed with me as a painful memory. I won't repeat those mistakes this time. Our goal is obviously to win it all."
Meanwhile, the 2027 KBO Rookie Draft will take place on the 21st, right after this tournament ends. Aside from second-year players Han Gyu-min, a pitcher from Daejeon High School, and Jeon Yeong-hun, a catcher from Segwang High School, along with Eom, who has already signed with an MLB club, and Nam Hyun-woo, an infielder from Seoul Convention High School, the other 14 players on the roster are all eligible for the draft. That has all 10 KBO clubs watching this tournament closely. Those clubs have sent scouting teams to Taiwan to assess the players' strengths and weaknesses down to the final games as they finalize their draft plans.
This article was originally written in Korean and translated by a bilingual reporter with the help of generative AI tools. It was then edited by a native English-speaking editor. All AI-assisted translations are reviewed and refined by our newsroom.
