Neither Zander Bogarts, a $280 million (about 370 billion won) man, nor other key players with a fairly spectacular major league career. The attacking spearhead who led the Netherlands to victory in the first round of the 2023 World Baseball Classic (WBC) was Roger Bernardina, a 39-year-old outfielder this year.
Bernardina played as the starting 2nd center fielder in the first round of the 2023 World Baseball Classic held at the Intercontinental Baseball Stadium in Taichung, Taiwan on the 8th against Cuba in Group A, and led the team to a 4-2 victory. Overall, the attack flow was not working well in the Netherlands, but Bernardina’s overall performance was a brilliant match.
Bernardina, who got on base with a walk from the first at-bat in the first inning and got off the ground, tied the game with a valuable hit in the third inning, trailing 0-1. He reached base with an infield hit to shortstop with no runners on first out. The course was right in front of the fielder, but it was fortunate that the ball was hit incorrectly and the speed of the ball was slow. Bernardina went to second base on Bogatz’s grounder and stepped home on Gregorius’ timely hit to take responsibility for the team’s tying run.
As a result, it was a very important hit. The offensive flow of the Netherlands was not going well in the beginning of the game, and they were being chased by giving up even the first point. Opponent starter Yariel Rodriguez’s pitching and overall pitching were also good. However, I was able to find psychological stability by making a tie here, which eventually led to a come-from-behind victory.
It wasn’t just this. Even in the 7th inning, when he was leading 4-2, he came on as the lead batter and scored a heavy hit, making 3 on-base games that day alone. In the 7th inning, he also recorded a stolen base, showing off his continued efforts and defending the team’s outfield with a sense of stability in defense. There were many contributors to the victory on this day, but it was clear that one of them was Bernardina. 바카라사이트
After the game, John Morosi, a leading columnist for the MLB Network and major league source, wrote on his social network service (SNS), “Roger Bernardina is an eternal wonder of international baseball.” It is because he joined his national team even at the age of 40, and proved the value of his existence by playing a big role from his first match in this WBC, which may be his last international tournament.
This is Bernardina’s second WBC appearance, following the 2013 event. At the time of the 2013 tournament, he did not perform well, but he continued to play as a member of the Dutch national team. He played in the Premier 12 in 2019 and wore the Dutch national team uniform at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics, although he did not make it to the finals. He is one of the most consistent players to wear the Dutch flag.
Bernardina, who is familiar to us by playing in the KBO League KIA uniform for two years in 2017 and 2018, has not been able to return to the big leagues after leaving Korea. However, he continues his active career by playing in the minor leagues, Taiwan, and the Netherlands.
As no player has yet appeared to perfectly take over Bernardina’s place, a heavy role is expected in this tournament as well. At the time of the 2013 tournament, he played as the team’s main player, but it is noteworthy whether he will be able to recover the memory of bowing his head with a batting average of 0.136 in 6 games.