Nat'l baseball manager to take pre-Olympic scouting trip to U.S.

▲ Kim Kyung-moon, manager of the South Korean national baseball team, waves to cameras on his way to receive his second dose of a COVID-19 vaccine ahead of the Tokyo Olympics at the National Medical Center in Seoul on May 24, 2021, in this photo provided by the health ministry. (PHOTO NOT FOR SALE) (Yonhap)

baseball-Olympics

Nat'l baseball manager to take pre-Olympic scouting trip to U.S.

SEOUL, May 25 (Yonhap) -- The manager of the South Korean national baseball team will take a scouting trip to the United States on the weekend in preparation for the Tokyo Olympics, sources said Tuesday.

Manager Kim Kyung-moon will be accompanied by a member of his coaching staff, Kim Pyoung-ho, as they fly out to Florida on Saturday to attend the Americas qualifying tournament for the Olympics.

West Palm Beach and Port St. Lucie will host the May 31-June 5 tournament featuring the United States, the Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico, Cuba and Canada, among others. They're vying for one spot from their region.

South Korea is one of four countries to have qualified for the baseball tournament in Tokyo, where six countries will vie for the gold. The host country Japan, Mexico and Israel are also in.

Kim Kyung-moon managed South Korea to the gold medal at the 2008 Beijing Olympics, when baseball was last contested.

South Korea unveiled a 154-man provisional roster in March, and the final roster of 24 players, to be set in June, must come from that pool.

The provisional squad has 136 players from the Korea Baseball Organization, 14 amateurs and four based in the U.S. The quartet is Choi Ji-man of the Tampa Bay Rays, Kim Ha-seong of the San Diego Padres, Yang Hyeon-jong of the Texas Rangers and Park Hoy-jun of the New York Yankees.

From Major League Baseball (MLB), only 40-man roster players not in the big leagues are allowed to play at the Olympics. That likely leaves high-level prospects or MLB veterans playing out the string in the minors available for the competition.

Of the MLB quartet for South Korea, Choi, Kim and Yang are currently in the majors, while Park has split his 2021 season in Double-A and Triple-A.

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