On Feb. 9 last year, the Samsung Lions played a practice game against the Nippon-Ham Fighters in Okinawa, Japan, where they were trained. The result was a 0-3 loss to Samsung. The Samsung lineup was completely defeated, with only two hits and no runs.헤라카지노주소
After watching the game against Samsung, the head of the Nippon Ham scout team, who scouted Shohei Ohtani (currently the Los Angeles Dodgers), the top draft pick by the Nippon Ham team 12 years ago, said, “Didn’t most of Samsung have young players?” After considering his opponents, he said, “The pitcher who threw the sixth and last throw was strong and good.” The pitcher was left-handed Lee Seung-hyun. On that day, Lee handled the Nippon Ham lineup neatly, allowing no run in one inning.
One year has passed since then. Lee, who played as an intermediate pitcher for the three seasons since joining Samsung, is making a new challenge this season. He is about to turn into a starting pitcher. “Although it is not confirmed as a starting pitcher, I am preparing for it. On the day of pitching in this camp, I will throw more than 100 balls from the bullpen,” Lee said.
In 48 games last year, Lee had one win and five losses, five saves and five holds, and an earned run average of 4.98. Adding to the number of games thrown in the Futures League, Lee has thrown in more than 50 games for three consecutive years. Usually, a pitcher who plays full-time during a season puts more emphasis on taking rest than on actual games during the off-season. However, Lee was sent to the Australian Baseball League (ABL) for about a month from mid-November.
“I didn’t have any physical problems because my coach from the training part went to Australia with me,” Lee said. In particular, he said that his conversation with a pitcher who was 17 years older than him in Australia helped him a lot. Lee said, “I asked a lot of Murata Towu.”
Murata is a Japanese pitcher with a unique career experience. He joined the Yomiuri Giants as the first draft pick in 2008 but moved to the U.S. after being released without playing in the first division for three years. During his six-year career in the U.S., he pitched in only one game in the Major League. He returned to the Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB) in 2017. He garnered eight wins as a starting pitcher for five seasons as a member of the Nippon Ham team. Currently, he is a member of the Adelaide Giants of the Australian League where Lee Seung-hyun was sent.
Lee Seung-hyun got advice from Murata on how to mix balls when starting players. “I heard that Murata uses a lot of balls near the batter’s body early in the game. If he throws the ball outward from the beginning, the batter enters the batter’s box,” Lee said. “In the latter half of the game, the batter uses a wider strike zone,” Lee said. “I did that in the actual game, but it was okay. I’m going to do that for now.”
There is another change for Lee. This is a change in the number. He wore it 54 times until last year, but changed it to 57 times this year. “I used to wear it when I was a sophomore in high school, so I have a good image.”
Moreover, Lee Seung-hyun has been included in the preliminary list of the Korean national team that will participate in the special game of the Seoul Series of the MLB World Tour in March. How will Lee, who learned the starting pitcher’s posture based on fastballs, well-angled sliders and curves evaluated by the Nippon Ham Scouts, and advice from Australia, show off his new performance this season.