For South Korean male athletes, the prospect of gaining exemption from their mandatory military service through their athletic achievements can be a double-edged sword.
An Asian Games gold medal or an Olympic medal of any color will do the trick. Some have thrived in such circumstances, motivated by the chance to avoid disruption to their careers. Others have crumbled under pressure, unable to reach deep into their reservoir of strength to get over the hump.
When South Korea on Monday announced its 24-man baseball roster for the Asian Games, from Sept. 19 to Oct. 4 in the western city of Incheon, the team included 13 players who aren’t already exempt.
The question begs: Will they be able to summon extra strength to lead South Korea to its second straight baseball gold? Or will the weight of having to win the gold in the nation’s most popular sport before passionate home crowds prove too much for them to handle?
Team Korea manager Ryu Joong-il (Yonhap)
South Korea’s recent history in international competitions suggests there’s hardly a bigger carrot for the ballplayers than the military exemption. On the other hand, because the complexion of the domestic talent pool has changed greatly over the years, crowding the team with non-exempt players could backfire on South Korea.
In December, Ryu Joong-il, manager of the Korea Baseball Organization champ Samsung Lions, was named the bench boss for the South Korean team at the 2014 Asian Games. From the onset, he declared he would select players based on merit and that their military status wouldn’t come into play.
“I know that military exemptions are on the line, but we do have to win the gold medal for that,” Ryu said after being appointed the national team manager. “So I will select only the best players.”
Yet Ryu may have done the exact opposite. Though he sidestepped the issue of the players’ exemption status when announcing the team on Monday, Ryu appeared to have chosen certain players over others to give them a chance to win their exemptions. In the process, Ryu also left out some of the KBO’s best players at some positions.
Ryu could afford to do so because he faced a much different task in team selection compared to managers of earlier Olympics or Asian Games.
Ahead of the 2008 Olympics, with most of the key players not exempt from the military service, South Korea couldn’t afford not to take its very best players. The 24-man squad had 14 players who weren’t already exempt, including Ryu Hyun-jin, starter for the Los Angeles Dodgers, and Lee Dae-ho, first baseman for the SoftBank Hawks in Japan. If they hadn’t been exempt from the conscription, it’s unlikely the two would have been signed by overseas clubs.
The 2010 Asian Games team of 24 had 11 such players, including Major League Baseball outfielder Choo Shin-soo, and a pair of prospective free agents who have drawn attention from big-league scouts, SK third baseman Choi Jeong and Nexen shortstop Kang Jung-ho.
For this year, most of the KBO’s finest players have either received exemptions from one of the two events or have actually served in the armed forces.
There was also no need to call up players from the majors or the Japanese league.
Against this backdrop, Ryu made some controversial choices that could haunt him in Incheon.
At second base, for instance, Ryu chose Oh Jae-won of the Doosan Bears over Seo Geon-chang of the Nexen Heroes. Among six infielders, Oh is the only natural second baseman, and Ryu explained that Oh was selected for his ability to play all infield positions, whereas Seo can only play second base.
Seo could still have been a useful bat to keep around: He leads the KBO in hits and runs scored, and is second in stolen bases and fifth in batting average, better offensive numbers across the board than Oh. (Yonhap)