The LG Twins, a professional baseball team that won the Korean Series last year, also had a strong backup. As in this year, new faces appear to fill the gaps that have escaped such as trade and retirement.
Manager Yeom Kyung-yeop plans to operate 28 entry players in the first team with 14 pitchers and 14 fielders. If the number of pitchers is 13, the number of fielders will increase by one more, but the bigger framework is 14.노래방알바
The 14 fielders have nine key players, including designated hitters, and five backup players. The five backup players are the second catcher, infield utility, pinch hitter resource, and two outfielders (borrower, pinch hitter).
At the beginning of the spring camp, Yeom mentioned Song Chan-ui, a former home run king, and Choi Seung-min, a pinch runner, as two backup candidates for outfield games. However, the camp and exhibition games created a competitive landscape. Rookie Kim Hyun-jong (19) and third-year Choi Won-young (20) have grown rapidly.
Yeom said he will place Kim Hyun-jong in the opening roster instead of Song Chan. Choi Won-young, who is a training player, said on May 1 that he will be given a chance to join the first team along with registration as an official player.
First off, Kim Hyun-jong. He was drafted in the second round of the 2024 rookie draft. In July last year, LG acquired pitcher Choi Won-tae from Kiwoom in a trade, and gave up Lee Ju-hyung, Kim Dong-kyu and the first round of the 2024 rookie draft. Kim is LG’s first rookie this year.
Kim Hyun-jong, who was No. 1 in outfielder rankings in high school, stood out in the spring camp. At the spring camp in Scottsdale, Arizona, the U.S., Kim Hyun-jong was notable as he had eight hits in 14 times at bat, batted .571 with one home run, triples with two and three steals in four practice games.
Notably, he had two hits and one homerun from four times at bat in his first practice match against NC, and three hits and two steals from five times at bat in his second practice match against NC. He has displayed even-handed contact capabilities, slugging capabilities and mobility.
Yeom is also giving Kim a chance to play in exhibition games. Kim played in all four exhibition games, recording three hits in six at-bats and striking out two with a batting average of .500 with one base and two strikeouts. He played as a substitute in his first exhibition game against KT on the 9th, and had one hit in his first at-bat, recording one hit and one steal from two at-bats. He also played as a substitute in the game against Samsung on the 11th, recording two hits in two at-bats.
Yeom vowed to put Kim Hyun-jong in the opening entry. “I will put Kim Hyun-jong in the opening entry and let him play for about a month,” Yeom said on the 10th.
“Hyun-jong is still growing. First of all, (Song) Chan-ui is playing games in the second team, but Chan-ui is a little late in preparation. My plan is to take Hyun-jong to the opening entry. I will put him in the opening entry and gain about a month of experience in the first team, play some games in the first team, and send him down to the second team. By playing in the first team, I will develop my confidence and go down to the second team to gain experience in games,” he explained. “First, I will develop my mental part and take it to the next level, and then I will send him to the second team.”
Afterwards, he plans to send Kim Hyun-jong down to the second team, raising Song to the first team and giving them a chance in the rotation. Yeom plans to let both players gain experience this year. “Chan-ui and Hyun-jong will not want the team to have something from them for a year, but for them, it will be a time to find out what we will get in three years, what will be good for them, and make investments that will help them,” Yeom said.
[OSEN = Suwon, Reporter Park Joon-hyung] On the 9th, the exhibition game of the “2024 Shinhan Bank SOL KBO League” was held at Suwon KT Wiz Park. Second baseman Choi Won-young scores when LG Koo Bon-hyuk’s RBI timely hit with one out in the top of the ninth inning. 2024.03.09 / soul1014@osen.co.kr
Choi joined the Korean pro baseball league after being nominated by LG in the sixth round (57th overall) of the second round of rookie draft in 2022. Choi has yet to make his debut in the first division. As a nurturing player, he has double number 118. Over the past two years, he has played only in the Futures League. In 2022, he played three games in the second division, posting three hits in seven at-bats, one homer, four RBIs and one stolen base, and last year, he played in 14 games in the second division, posting a batting average of .388 (12 hits in 39 at-bats) with one homer, four RBIs and two stolen bases.
Choi Won-young trained at the second-tier spring camp and joined the first-tier squad ahead of the exhibition game. He is fast-footed. Choi Won-young played as a substitute in an exhibition game against KT on the 9th, and stole second base immediately after getting on base with a hit ball in his first batting opportunity. He also added one steal in the game against KT on the 10th, and one steal in the game against Samsung on the 11th, and one steal failure.
At Suwon on the 10th, manager Yeom said, “Choi Won-young is also one of the second most promising runners after Choi Seung-min. It’s not as bad as I thought, so I think the two of them will compete with Seung-min. A pinch runner is an important position. It is a position that can make three to four wins in a team. In my baseball, because of a player who won a game by one point, Seung-min made three to four wins last year.