It was the first-team mound that I dreamed of, but there was more pressure and tension than I imagined. The immediate opponent was LG, which is the strongest lineup in the league. After getting a hit by the leader Park Hae-min, he hit a home run by Kim Min-sung. The change-up, the decisive ball of the round-up thrown in an advantageous count, was caught on the bat properly. Lee Ki-soon's spirit came to light.
But the young player's heart wasn't that weak. Rather, he said he felt at ease after hitting a home run. Lee Ki-soon then finished the inning with three consecutive outcounts without allowing left-handed hitters called Hong Chang-ki, Moon Sung-joo and Kim Hyun-soo to get on base. Lee Ki-soon did not forget the feeling of the first team, although his sweaty first-team debut, which scored three runs in two innings, went down to the second team immediately afterwards. He tempered in the Futures League to become a better pitcher.
Many players feel the wall of the first team and give up and get frustrated, but Lee Ki-soon did not. Rather, he started to find a sense by throwing as a starter in the Futures League. Lee Ki-soon wanted it. He conveyed his intention to the Futures League coaching staff to "play as a starter," and the coaching staff accepted it. There was a reason. It was to find a sense and complement by throwing more. Lee Ki-soon said, "I didn't play much, but when I started, I had time to prepare by throwing it on a fixed date. "Throwing a lot helped me," he said.
In the process of throwing a lot, he found confidence and complementary points at the same time. First of all, unlike 2022, when he was a rookie season, he confirmed that he has grown a lot physically. Lee Ki-soon said, "I was only in the middle last year, but I threw it as a starter this year. I was able to prepare while continuing to exercise, and I learned a lot from it," he said, thanking the coaching staff, adding, "I think I thought a lot about how to manage physically. Last year, I lost my strength in August and September, so I got hit a lot, but this year, there were not many such things. Those parts have developed," he said.
He only pitched twice in the 31 days of registration in the first division this year, leaving him disappointed, but he is still a 20-year-old young player. It is worth noting that the second-tier record has improved dramatically. Lee Ki-soon pitched 22 innings in 18 games last year, making a fierce debut with one win, three losses and an ERA of 6.95. However, this year, he played 41 innings in 17 games and drastically cut his ERA to 3.29. The hit rate was only 0.209. At the end of the season, he started and played four to five innings stably.
A small 174cm body on the profile. His speed is not fast either. This year's maximum speed is around 146 km/h. However, the vertical movement and the rotation of the ball are so good. It is the driving force behind the fact that he has been able to strike out quite a lot this year. Since the time of the nomination, it has been evaluated that "there is a possibility to grow like Kim Jae-woong of Kium," but the possibility is gradually being revealed as a reality. There is still a long way to go, but 2023 was an important turning point.
Kim Dong-ho, the pitching coach of SSG Futures Team (second division), believes that he can raise his ball speed more and throw stronger balls. It is evaluated that this possibility was clearly revealed in the Kagoshima promising camp, which recently ended. However, Lee Ki-soon is not in a hurry even with such praise. Rather, I think carefully about the complementary points revealed in the first team. He is determined to pitch more aggressively than to increase his speed. Even with the same speed, the batter's feeling may vary depending on what kind of course the pitcher throws.
Lee Ki-soon said, "There were so many things I wanted to throw in every corner." It is a recollection that it worked in the second division, but it was not easy in the first division. Lee Ki-soon said, "I want to raise the restraint, but if you are too greedy about it, your balance or mechanism can be shaken a lot. "I think if you train hard, you will get up on your own," he said. "I learned that I should be able to throw it toward my body against right-handed hitters. "I think it will be better if I play like that," he said. You can't keep avoiding it anyway. The idea is to develop the ability to play head-to-head.
I don't get too greedy. Just as he felt that he had grown up in a year, he expects that he will be able to continue to grow if he does his best. Lee Ki-soon said, "I want to play in the first division, but to do so, I have to prepare well in the offseason. Playing in the first team is a matter of later life. I'm thinking that there will be a good place if I work hard in the areas I can and do what I can." Lee Ki-soon and Kim Kwang-hyun, the senior presidential candidate, will start to harden in Okinawa in January. Attention is focusing on whether SSG's plan to rebuild the left-hander bullpen can include a master named Lee Ki-soon.
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