“Please strike out a lot.”
KT coach Lee Kang-cheol (55) took right-handed bullpen pitcher Park Si-young (32). On the afternoon of the 2nd, director Lee met with reporters at Gijang Hyundai Dream Ball Park in Gijang-gun, Busan, the spring camp site, and said, “I am looking forward to the right-handed bullpen Park Si-young a lot.”
In December of last year, Park Si-young joined the Wizards Corps in a two-to-one trade involving the nomination rights of Lotte and KT. Director Lee noted Park Si-young’s ability to strike out.
Director Lee was worried about the number of strikeouts that fell sharply last year. In the 2020 season, KT’s team strikeouts were at the bottom of the league with 848. The gap between the winning team of the Korean Series, NC (1049), which ranked first in team strikeouts, was over 200. The bullpen team’s strikeouts were also last in the league with 328.
The first virtue for bullpen pitchers is the ability to strikeout. Strikeout is the best weapon to get out of a crisis situation. This is why manager Lee said he was sorry for the small number of strikeouts by pitchers as he recalled last season.
Park Si-young is a card that can satisfy Lee’s struck out thirst. Park Si-young, who has a fastball in the second half of the 140km range, is a folkball. The forkball thrown by holding the ball between the index finger and middle finger is a ball that flies in the same trajectory as a fastball and then suddenly falls down, and is perfect for stealing the timing of batters.
Director Lee said, “Park Si-young has a high strikeout rate because he has a fork ball on a fast ball of 145 to 146 km,” he said. During this camp and the demonstration game, I plan to change Park Si-young’s choice of pitches. I think I will use Park Si-young well this year.”
In addition, Lee said, “When foreign batter Mel Lohas left for the Hanshin Tigers, we thought we should make our strong mound stronger than the other ships. Baseball must be stopped in the end to win. The middle mound, Ahn Young-myeong and Park Si-young from Hanwha, and Shim Jae-min, who finished the public interest, had some room to operate the bullpen.”
Gijang (Busan) = Reporter Jeong Se-young [email protected]