Korean pro baseball players hold clinic

Kang-Min Kim, a Korean professional baseball player and 2022 Korean Series’ most valuable player, tosses a ball to a Saipan Little League Baseball player during a baseball clinic held at the Francisco “Tan Ko” M. Palacios Baseball Field Tuesday night. (LEIGH GASES)

Professional Korean baseball players took to the field with more than 50 of Saipan’s own young ball players to showcase their skills in a clinic at the Francisco “Tan Ko” M. Palacios Baseball Field last Tuesday night.

Parents of the youth, along with fans of America’s favorite pastime, flocked to the field to catch a glimpse of the 19 Korean baseball players from different professional teams in South Korea engaging and instructing those in attendance the fundamentals of the game.

From 5pm to 7pm, the baseball players were welcomed, held an introduction to the clinic, grouped the eager-to- learn youth, and lessons in throwing, grounding, batting, and defense were taught. 

After the clinic, the children lined up for autographs on their baseball gear.

Saipan Little League Baseball’s Frank Ada, who was in attendance along with other SLLB members and coaches, said that the clinic was a “great opportunity” for the youth.

“This is a great opportunity for our kids. For one, we’ve been idle for almost four years due to the typhoon that destroyed the baseball field, as well as the pandemic that held everything back. We’re three years, almost four years behind. So this is a great opportunity for all the young kids to come out and learn from these Korean professional baseball players,” said Ada.

“Even the parents are so excited, the kids are excited. And they’re happy to come out and play baseball. They missed it.”

Franklin Aldan Jr., a 13-year-old SLLB baseball player from the Comets said that “the experience was nice because we got to play with these guys. We learned how to [catch] ground balls and catch pop flies.”

Michael Tomokane, assistant coach for the As Matuis Twins, said that the turnout “was awesome. I can tell that they [were] really motivated and the kids were enjoying every aspect of the training. Hopefully they gain [some] knowledge… and hopefully they don’t forget about it.”

The Korean baseball players included 2022 Korean Series most valuable player Kang-Min Kim and Kyung-Eun Nho from SSG Landers; Ji-Young Lee and Jae-Hyeon Kim from KEEUM; Jin-Seong Kim and Do-Hwan Heo from LG Twins; Jeong-Dae Bae and Hyeong-Jun So from KT Wiz; Min-Hyeok Shin and Joo-Won Kim from NC Dinos; Yoon-Soo Kim and Tae-In Won from Samsung Lions; Jun-Yong Choi, Gang-Jun Lee, Won-Sam Jang, and Dae-Eun Lee from Lotte Giants; In-Tae Kim and Seung-Hyun Jang from Doosan Bears; and Soo-Chang Sim, baseball commentator and former baseball player.

This event came after the Marianas Visitors Authority signed a one-year memorandum of understanding in Seoul on Dec. 1, 2022, with the Korean Professional Baseball Players Association, which is a step forward in its sports tourism agenda.

“Since this is a rare opportunity to have so many professional baseball players on island, we’ve arranged the baseball clinic as a part of the project,” said Skye Seo from MVA.

According to MVA, this month’s visit of Korean Professional Baseball Players Association players came as part of a media tour, with MBC Plus filming an entertainment show titled SwingStar, that features professional baseball players, LPGA professional golfers, and Korean celebrities playing a golf tournament at the Laolao Bay Golf & Resort. 

MBC Plus has five cable TV channels including MBC EVERY1 for entertainment and MBC Sports+ for sports, with 2 million subscribers. 10 episodes of the Golf Championship on Saipan will be aired between January and April 2023.