"Just don't give me four balls + have good pitch value"...Song Seung-ki, who received praise for his indecency, will continue to grow and keep LG's starting lineup firmly
"Just don't give me four balls + have good pitch value"...Song Seung-ki, who received praise for his indecency, will continue to grow and keep LG's starting lineup firmly
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These were the words of LG Twins manager Yeom Kyung-yeop, whom we recently met. It was about Song Seung-ki.메이저놀이터
Song Seung-ki, who was called by LG as No. 87 overall in the second nine rounds in 2021, is a left-hander whose stable control is considered a strength. He was evaluated for having a lot of potential, but in fact, he did not show much presence in the first team until this year. He played in eight games (9.1 innings) in the first team until 2023, but only lost one game and had a 4.82 ERA, and joined Sangmu in the middle of that year.
Since then, Song has shown rapid growth last year. He played in 20 Futures League games for Sangmu and recorded 11 wins, 4 losses and 2.41 strikeouts with 121 ERA. It was followed by the Southern League's ERA and the title of the most wins, and he also ranked first in strikeouts in the Southern League.
His performance is on the rise this year as well. He was selected as the starting pitcher for the fifth time before the season's opening, and has been enjoying consecutive games lately. As of Friday, he had two wins, one loss and 2.51 ERA in five games (28.2 innings). In the match against the NC Dinos in Jamsil on the 23rd, he also led LG to a 3-0 victory with six innings of no hit, three walks and seven strikeouts.
The head coach was also satisfied with the move. "Song Seung-ki should not just walk. He has good vertical movement of his fastball. He throws change-ups and folk balls. On days when folk ball works well, you can throw change-ups, and on days when change-ups work well, you can throw change-ups like yesterday. When the curve is good, the angle is good. If you go up, that's right. If you go in low, batters can fall for it," Yeom said with a bright smile.
"He has good pitching value. You can think of it as a day when you throw a ball well," he said. "I try very hard to reduce it because I know that. In the end, you have to gain experience. Every game will be improved and improved pitches for Song."
LG is considered one of the strongest teams in this season. Recently, LG has been mired in two consecutive losses, but has maintained its No. 1 ranking by recording 20 wins and nine losses. Along with Song Seung-ki, a strong starting lineup consisting of Yoni Chirinos, Lim Chan-kyu and Son Joo-young is the driving force.
In particular, LG, which already has Son Joo-young, has two quality left-handers due to the growth of Song Seung-ki. Son Joo-young, who was nominated by LG as the second overall in the second round of the first round in 2017, has played a total of 56 games and posted 14 wins, 17 losses and one hold average of 4.72 ERA. He posted 9 wins and 10 losses and an ERA of 3.79 last year, and is also 3-1 with an ERA of 4.25 in six games (29.2 innings) this year.
"I think (Song Seung-gi) will go as Joo-young does. (Song Seung-gi's performance this year is better than last year's) given his starting point. However, Joo-young is better than Son in terms of performance. Still, he will be at least the third starting pitcher, not the fifth one. If his performance is successful, Joo-young is in the first starting lineup. Seung-gi is a pitcher who can be issued three times in advance. He can be the first starting pitcher in Korea. He was born with those skills." Will he be able to grow further and keep the starting lineup of LG as the coach wished.