Sidearm pitcher Ko Young-pyo to start vs. Australia in 1st game

• Published date: 08 March 2023
• Publication title: The Korea Times

Ko Young-pyo, a right-hander with a sidearm delivery, will start South Korea's first game of the World Baseball Classic (WBC) against Australia on Thursday.

Manager Lee Kang-chul announced on the eve of the game that the 31-year-old will take the ball for the crucial opening game of Pool B play at the tournament. The first pitch is noon Thursday at Tokyo Dome.

Ko is one of the most extreme groundball pitchers in the Korea Baseball Organization. Last year, Ko led the South Korean league with a 1.92 groundout-to-airout ratio. Ko lives off changeups and sinkers, throwing those two pitches more than 80 percent of the time.

He was 13-8 with a 3.26 ERA for the KT Wiz in the KBO in 2022, while setting career highs with 182 1/3 innings and 156 strikeouts.

Lee selected Ko and other groundball pitchers, convinced that...