Professional baseball will return. The 10 KBO League teams will start exhibition games in 2024 at five stadiums nationwide on Tuesday. 스포츠토토
LG Twins and KT Wiz, who faced off in the Korean Series last year, will play at Suwon KT Wiz Park.
The Hanwha Eagles, where Ryu Hyun-jin returned, and the Samsung Lions, which recruited closer Kim Jae-yoon, will play their first exhibition game at Hanwha Life Eagles Park in Daejeon.
KIA Tigers, where new coach Lee Bum-ho took over, will play against the NC Dinos at Changwon NC Park, while Lotte Giants, led by Kim Tae-hyung, and SSG Landers, led by new coach Lee Sung-yong, will play their first game at Sajik Stadium in Busan.
Some teams will hold their first exhibition game at the stadium. The Doosan Bears and the Kiwoom Heroes will play at Bears Park in Icheon, Gyeonggi Province. The Jamsil Stadium in Seoul, Doosan's home stadium, will be open from Friday due to internal construction issues.
The same applies to Kiwoom. The Gocheok Sky Dome in Seoul will be used after the opening of the regular season due to the schedule of the opening series of the Major League Baseball in the U.S. Major League Baseball.
All 2024 exhibition games will begin at 1 p.m. and will be played 10 games per team until the 19th.
LG and Kiwoom, who will play practice games against the San Diego Padres and Los Angeles Dodgers in the MLB, will play only eight games each.
Both players and foster players can participate in exhibition games, and there is no limit on the number of participants. No extra time or doubleheader will be held, and cancellation games will not be reorganized.
The automatic pitching judgment system (ABS), which will be introduced to the pro baseball in the 2024 season, will also be introduced in exhibition games. Expansion of the size of the base and restriction on defensive shift will also be applied.
Each professional baseball team plans to confirm the players' roles and complete preparations for the new season through exhibition games.
Above all, ABS adaptation is the key. The KBO League decided to introduce ABS, which allows tracking systems and computer programs to make ball decisions for the first time in Korea, the U.S., and Japan's first-tier professional baseball league this year.
Meanwhile, KBO summarized the changed regulations and rules on the 8th, a day before the opening of the professional baseball exhibition game, to reduce confusion in the field and enhance fans' understanding.
# ABS introduction
ABS will replace the ball-strike decision made by a referee. ABS is a system that uses a tracking system to track the position value of a pitch and then determines the strike-ball.
The ABS program uses cameras installed in each stadium to identify the trajectory of a pitcher's pitch, and sends a voice signal to the referee wearing earphones for a strike or a ball. The referee hears the sound and makes a judgment as is.
The ball judgment and voice signal transmission of the program are done quickly in real time, so it does not interfere much with the game time.
KBO has been enhancing technological stability through pilot operations in Futures League for four years from 2020 to introduce ABS. Afterwards, the team decided to introduce the 2024 season after a meeting of team management team leaders, a meeting of managers, and a resolution of advisory committee, executive committee and board of directors.
The upper and lower strike zone criteria determined by ABS shall be set at 56.35% and 27.64% of the player's height, respectively, and shall be determined as a strike only after passing both the middle and end criteria.
The left-right standard is a total of 47.18cm, which is applied to the size of the home plate (43.18cm) and 2cm of each left-right. This is a measure to implement a zone as similar as possible to the existing strike zone recognized by the referee and the team.
With the introduction of ABS, both clubs can be subject to 100% consistent strike zone judgment criteria, enabling fair play. Accuracy is expected to improve from 91% of referees before the introduction of ABS to more than 95-96% (based on existing strike zones).
# Defensive shift limit
When a pitcher pitches, the defensive team must have four fielders, excluding pitchers and catchers, located inside the infield dirt. In addition, two players must stand on both sides based on the second base.
There is no limit on outfield participation in infield defense, but no more than four outfielders can be deployed.
If the infielders are not properly aligned when pitching, the offensive team can receive one ball or choose the result of the play.
In this year's exhibition game, video-readable play on defensive shift restrictions will be expanded.
The attack team can apply for a reading of whether the infielder who caught the ball is violated, and the defense team can apply for a reading of the referee's judgment that it violated the defensive shift restrictions.
Whether or not to expand the play subject to reading on the limitation of defensive shifts in the regular season will be determined by the executive committee later.
# Expand base size
The first, second and third bases, which were 15 inches (38.1 centimeters) long, will be expanded to 18 inches (45.72 centimeters). As a result, the straight distance between the home plate and the first and third bases will be reduced by 3 inches (7.62 centimeters), and the straight distance between the second and first and third bases will be reduced by 4.5 inches (11.43 centimeters), respectively.
As the base size increases, the likelihood of a collision between a fielder and a runner decreases, allowing players to play safely.
In addition, the distance between bases is relatively reduced, allowing active base play such as stealing.
# Pitch clock pilot operation
It is a rule that places a time limit on the preparation process for pitching or hitting in order to reduce the game time. A pitcher must throw the ball within 23 seconds with a runner and 18 seconds with no runner.
It is longer by 3 seconds than the Major League Baseball (20 seconds when there is a runner and 15 seconds when there is no runner).
In addition, the batter must prepare for batting when eight seconds are marked. If this is violated, the pitcher will be judged as a ball, and the batter will be judged as a strike.
A pitcher's attempts to check is also restricted. A pitcher is only allowed to withdraw his or her feet from the pitcher's plate up to three times per at bat.
Balks are declared if the pitcher leaves the board more than four times in the same at-bat. However, if the fourth pitcher leaves the board or the runner advances, the balk will not be imposed.
Initially, KBO tried to officially introduce the pitch clock with the above contents this season.
