‘Many vs. one competition’ LG’s 5 starting candidates… The emergency exit is ‘Long Relief’

Professional baseball LG is a team that is almost equipped with a field team. After solidifying more than 95% of the composition of the main and backup members for each position, they start field training at the Arizona camp in the United States. 메이저사이트 However, building a domestic selection team is still left as an assignment.

The first and second starting system, led by foreign pitchers Casey Kelly and Adam Plutko, remains the same this year. LG coach Yeom Gyeong-yeop plans to prioritize Kim Yun-sik and Lee Min-ho for the 3rd and 4th selections, but the 5th selection will be finalized through the spring camp.

LG’s search for the 5th starting pitcher will not stop at finding the right person. Director Yeom decided to find a professional long relief agent in the 5th selection competition group while dropping the 5th selection. Regarding this, “There are several candidates for the 5th selection, such as Lim Chan-gyu and Kim Yoo-young. Among them, anyone can be converted to long relief except for the players who enter the 5th starting lineup,” he said. “That role will be very important to our team.”

In addition to Lim Chan-gyu and Kim Yoo-young, there are many candidates for the 5 starting pitchers, including Kim Young-joon, Lee Ji-gang, Kang Hyo-jong, and Kim Dae-hyun. Son Ju-yeong, who is completing her rehabilitation schedule during the season, and Lee Sang-young, who is returning from the military, are also potential 5 starters.

The reason coach Yeom emphasizes the need for long relief this season is because of the starting team structure. Last year, LG relied heavily on the two foreign pitchers. However, even when they were shaken at the beginning of the game, there was a side that was difficult to boldly put in the bullpen. This is because the domestic selection in charge of the 3rd to 5th starts was unstable, so the bullpen resource consumption had to be minimized in the foreign pitcher’s pitching game.

As coach Yeom, the so-called selection is to find a ‘+1 selection’ that will be followed immediately in a shaky game in the beginning. Prior to the camp, director Yeom went to Jamsil Stadium last week to go to work and interviewed him about the plan.

Ha Young-min played the role of ’emergency standby’, which Director Yeom paid attention to while playing as a long relief player in 2016 and 2017. He was also a ‘swing man’, appearing in 39 games over two seasons and throwing 74 innings, only appearing in 3 games as a starter.

It’s not that LG didn’t have a pitcher who played this role. Before last season, veteran pitchers like Kim Jin-seong and Song Eun-beom used to lead the innings in games where starting pitchers collapsed prematurely.

Manager Yeom is calculating to make the position a little more concrete this season. Going through the spring camp, among LG’s 5 starting candidates, it seems likely that the 1st pick will be selected as the 5th starter and the 2nd pick will be chosen as the 1st long relief pitcher. LG is preparing for the season with a large emphasis on the role of long relief.