The KBO Refereeing Committee operates the ‘6000 Project’ for more accurate and fair judgment. 먹튀검증
KBO Referee Chairman Heo Woon, who met at the Akama Ball Park in Okinawa, Japan, where the Samsung Lions spring camp was set up on the 16th, said, “According to KBO President Heo Gu-yeon’s instructions to minimize the damage to the club due to referee mistakes, the accuracy and fairness of the judgments have been improved. We are looking for ways to improve,” he said.
Chairman Huh Woon continued, “The best way to see the ball as much as possible is to make a more accurate and fair decision. One referee sees 6,000 balls in one season, and I set a goal to see 6,000 balls during camp,” he added. This figure more than doubled from 2000 to 2500 last year.
For five days starting on the 30th of last month, the referees completed adaptation training in preparation for this season at the Bears Park indoor training ground in Icheon, Gyeonggi-do. In addition, referees plan to visit the spring camps of 10 clubs and train to watch the ball to improve accuracy and fairness.
Until last year, referees visited the campsites of each club and watched bullpen pitching or live pitching from behind the catcher and judged strikes and balls just like in real games. It was all about refereeing practice matches. Starting this year, adaptation training using a pitching machine was added to meet the target of 6,000.
On this day, team leader Park Jong-cheol and other referees watched Samsung pitchers pitching in the bullpen, judged before self-evaluation, and practiced training using a pitching machine avoiding Samsung players’ training time.
Chairman Heo Un said, “This is the first time I have seen 6,000 balls during the camp, but I am sure it will definitely get better.” The team leader level referees are leading by example and doing very well,” he praised.
In line with the globalization of baseball, it plans to promote exchanges with referees of Major League Baseball (MLB) and Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB). Chairman Heo Woon said, “There has been no exchange with MLB and NPB referees for a while, but starting this year, we plan to expand exchanges by holding seminars on specific issues.”
The KBO called for the normalization of the strike zone last year. There was great concern that friction between players (or coaching staff) and referees would intensify immediately after implementation, but the effect was more than expected.
In response, Chairman Huh Woon said, “I had a lot of worries before the implementation, but thanks to the unison of all members of the league, it went well beyond expectations. I’ve been training a lot this year, so I’m going to be much better.” He also said, “We will make up for the shortcomings in the first year of implementation and reflect opinions from club and supervisor meetings. It will take three years to settle down perfectly,” he predicted.
Lastly, Chairman Heo Woon said, “All referees are aware that more accurate and fair judgment is an essential element for the development of the league. It may not be 100% perfect, but I am working hard to get closer to perfection, so please give me lots of encouragement.”