2019 WBSC Premier12


The 2019 WBSC Premier12 was an international baseball championship featuring the 12 highest-ranked national teams in the world, held by the World Baseball Softball Confederation. It was the second WBSC Premier12 event. The championship was held from November 2 to 17, 2019, in Mexico, South Korea, Taiwan, and Japan.
The tournament served as a qualifier for baseball at the 2020 Summer Olympics. Two quota spots were allocated, with Team Mexico as the top finisher from the Americas earning one spot, and Team South Korea as the top-finishing team from the Asia/Oceania region earning the other.
Japan defeated South Korea in the championship game, and the bronze medal game was won by Mexico over Team USA.

Teams

The 12 highest-ranked national teams qualified to participate in the 2019 WBSC Premier 12, based on the then-most-recent WBSC World Rankings, which were as of December 17, 2018.

Format

Opening Round

The tournament began with three groups of four teams each playing in the 12-team Opening Round. Each team played three games, in a round robin format against the other three teams in its group.

Super Round

The top two teams from each group then advanced to the six-team Super Round, which was hosted at ZOZO Marine Stadium and the Tokyo Dome in Japan.
In the Super Round, the top two teams that advanced from each of the three groups competed in a round robin format against the top two teams that advanced from the other two groups, for a total of four games played per team.

Finals

Following the conclusion of the Super Round, four teams advanced to the Finals. The four teams were selected based on a combination of the results of the Opening Round game contested between the two teams in the same group that qualified for the Super Round, plus the teams' results in the Super Round.
The 3rd- and 4th-place teams competed in a Bronze Medal Game, while the 1st- and 2nd-place teams faced each other in the Championship Final at the Tokyo Dome.

Venues

Six stadiums were used during the tournament:
Group AGroup BGroup B
Zapopan, Mexico Taichung, Taiwan Taoyuan, Taiwan
Estadio de Béisbol Charros de JaliscoTaichung Intercontinental Baseball StadiumTaoyuan International Baseball Stadium
Capacity: 16,000Capacity: 20,000Capacity: 20,000

Group CSuper RoundSuper Round and Finals
Seoul, South Korea Chiba, Japan Tokyo, Japan
Gocheok Sky DomeZOZO Marine StadiumTokyo Dome
Capacity: 16,813Capacity: 30,000Capacity: 46,000

Opening round

Group A

Group B

Group C

Super Round

RankTeamsPct.GB
141.800—2716
232.60012521
332.60011712
423.40021120
523.40021514
614.2003517

Finals

Bronze medal game

Championship final

Awards

Following the conclusion of the tournament, the WBSC announced the Premier12 All-World Team. WBSC also announced the individual awards winners.
PositionPlayer
Starting Pitcher Chang Yi
Relief Pitcher Brandon Dickson
Catcher Erik Kratz
First Baseman Bobby Dalbec
Second Baseman Ryosuke Kikuchi
Third Baseman Wang Wei-chen
Shortstop Kim Ha-seong
Outfielders Lee Jung-hoo
Jonathan Jones
Seiya Suzuki
Designated Hitter Brent Rooker

AwardPlayerValue
Most Valuable Player Seiya Suzuki
Best Batting Average Seiya Suzuki.478
Pitcher with Best ERA Chang Yi0.00
Pitcher with Best Win/Loss Average Chang Yi2–0
Most Runs Batted In Seiya Suzuki12
Home Run King Brent Rooker3
Most Stolen Bases Ukyo Shuto4
Most Runs Scored Seiya Suzuki9
Outstanding Defensive Player Ryosuke Kikuchi

Prize money

The WBSC gave $5.2 million in prize money to participants, distributed as follows, with a minimum of half of a team's prize money to be distributed equally among its players:
The super-round game between South Korea and the United States played on November 11, which South Korea won 5–1, became a topic of debate due to an alleged misjudgment by an umpire, Tetsuya Shibata, against South Korea in the third inning. Baserunner Kim Ha-seong slid back to home plate before catcher Eric Kratz in the eyes of some was able to tag him out, but Tetsuya ruled it as an out instead. Team Korea's coach, Kim Kyung-moon immediately requested a VAR check, but was refused. Slowed-down television footage was available online, and some criticized the call claiming it was wrong and that South Korea lost a run due to the call. The Korea Baseball Organization held a meeting after the match with the tournament's technical directors and filed an appeal, additionally stating that Kratz physically obstructed Kim's path to home plate in violation of WBSC playing regulations. WBSC responded by saying that they respected Team Korea's perspective and would seek to make improvements in the future. The Japanese media initially kept this incident quiet on the news, and many ridiculed the controversy in Japan.