1994 World Junior Championship

The 1994 World Junior Championship was the 14th World Junior Championship and was held in Brandon, MB from July 21 through July 31. It was won by South Korea and featured several future major leaguers among the 10 teams.

Australia (2-7) tied for 8th despite the top contact hitter (Sam Grant, .471) and #2 ERA pitcher (Daniel McGrath, 1-0, 0.52). Grant made the All-Star team at LF.

Brazil was a surprising entry, finishing 4th (6-4). All-Star CF Celso Nakano hit .367 with 9 RBI. Douglas Kakazu (1-0, 0.84) and Marcos Seichi (1-1, 1.68) led the staff.

Canada (5-4) was 5th, outscoring opponents 70-36. Mike Kusiewicz (1-1, 0.00) led in ERA. Todd Thompson hit .379 with 8 runs scored while Ryan Anholt batted .361 with 2 triples, 10 runs and 8 RBI. Calvin Tanton was the All-Star C.

Cuba was 4-5 in a rough tourney. Isbel Iglesias hit .417 and the team had no All-Stars.

Mexico was 2-7 behind All-Star 2B Victor Saucedo (.378, 7 R) and Omar Guevara (.381).

The Netherlands finished 4-5, led by Jeffrey Verbij (.407, 4th) and All-Star RF Glenn Romney (.355).

Panama was last at 1-8, being outscored 77-28.

South Korea won its first title in 13 years, since the first Junior Championship. They were 7-2 in the round-robin, outscoring opponents 64-29. In the semifinals, they routed Brazil 15-5 then edged the USA 11-10 in the Gold Medal game with a 3-run rally in the 8th. Seung-yeop Lee (.394) scored 13 runs and drove in 10 while wacking 5 doublkes, 2 triples and 3 homers. Gun-duk Kim (3-0, 0.84, 25 K, 3 BB in 21 IP) led the staff while Beong-jeun Kim (2-0, 1.10, 23 K, 8 H, 2 BB in 16 IP) and Don-jin Choi (1-1, 1.42) also turned in fine performances. Gun-duk Kim was their only All-Star in the tournament.

Taiwan had the best record in the round-robin (8-1) but lost 6-4 to the USA in the semifinals before beating Brazil in the Bronze Medal game. Chin-Yung Chen was named as the All-Star SS, Sung-Hsien Yang hit .361 with 11 runs and Chao-Chi Sung (3-0, 1.09, 2 BB in 25 IP) won MVP honors.

The USA was 6-3 in the round-robin with the best offense (74 runs). They upset Taiwan in the semifinals before their close Gold Medal game loss to South Korea. All-Stars were 1B Bill Deck (.333, 4 3B, 10 R, 10 RBI) and 3B Michael Barrett (.429, second to Grant in average). Jake Weber hit .400 with 6 doubles and 14 RBI, Adam Piatt batted .313 with 6 doubles, 3 homers and 13 runs, Eric Valent (.295) drove in 16 and had 3 triples, Ryan Freel hit .364 and scored 15 and Ben Davis (.313) was honored as the Best Defensive Player. Randy Wolf (1-0, 1 Sv, 0.00, 16 K, 3 H in 10 IP) led the staff.

Source: 1995 Baseball Almanac