“I know Min-woo’s swing…”
Kim Kyung-moon (66), who returned to the professional baseball field after six years at the helm of the Hanwha Eagles, replaced pitcher Lee Min-woo (31) after just two batters in the seventh inning against Suwon KT on Sept. 6.
Lee took the mound in the bottom of the seventh inning with a 1-0 lead and gave up an infield single to shortstop and a walk to put runners on first and second with no outs before being replaced by Kim Kyu-yeon. He only threw nine pitches, but to manager Kim Kyung-moon, Lee Min-woo’s arm swing and rhythm were not what they should be.
Kim, who removed Min-woo from the first-team roster ahead of the NC game against Daejeon on July 7, said, “He’s the best pitcher in our bullpen, and he came out on three days’ rest, but his arm swing wasn’t good when I saw it. I know Min-woo’s swing, and the manager has a camera in his eye that captures the good and the bad. When he’s good, he has a rhythm, 바카라사이트 but yesterday (the sixth) he didn’t. My changeup wasn’t working, my fastball wasn’t working,” he reflected.
This is the first time Kim and Lee have teamed up with Hanwha.
However, Kim still remembered Lee’s arm swing from when they faced each other as opposing pitchers in their former team, the NC. “He pitched for KIA,” Kim said. I remember it because I saw him pitch in NC,” Kim recalled.
Lee Min-woo pitched just two games for NC under Kim. He pitched two short relief appearances of ⅓ innings each in Gwangju on May 4 and 6, 2018, when he was a member of KIA. He was a pitcher who didn’t have much of a presence at the time, but Kim never forgot those moments. His arm swing stuck in his mind. After stepping down as NC manager, Kim continued to follow the KBO and quickly realized that Lee’s condition was not normal.
After pitching 25⅓ innings in 30 games this season, going 1-1 with a 2.49 ERA and six saves with 26 strikeouts in 30 appearances, Lee was pulled from the game in the eighth inning of a 0-0 tie against Samsung Electronics in Daegu on Feb. 2 due to elbow pain after giving up a double to Koo Ja-rook and a single to Park Byung-ho. He remained on the roster because there was nothing wrong with him, and he pitched on three days’ rest, but he wasn’t at his best.
“(Lee Min-woo) said he was fine, but players don’t usually get sick,” Kim said, “He’s been contributing to the team. He’s not a young player, and he might feel bad if he’s asked to go to the second team. When you’re over 30, you need that,” he said, adding, ‘I said, ’Let’s build up together here and be healthy in 10 days. You have to throw your own ball without getting sick. He (Lee Min-woo) understood and accepted it well.” In recognition of his contributions to the team, Kim’s consideration and respect allowed Lee to stay with the first team to recover and prepare, instead of going to the second team when his roster was cleared.
Kim told Lee Min-woo this in person, and they even made out.
He was captured on the broadcast screen as he grabbed Lee Min-woo, who had been substituted at the time, one-on-one in the back of the dugout and encouraged him. In the past, he had a stern image that made it difficult for players to approach him with his powerful charisma, but there are many stories that he became very harmful at Hanwha. He greeted the players with a fist bump and encouraged them with a smile.
“I’m trying harder than ever. I’m not a scary person…I’m trying to make them feel comfortable,” Kim laughed. ”I think I was too focused on winning when I was out there. Now, I try to say nice things to the players and interact with them. It will be especially difficult for me with younger players in their early 20s. I will touch them more. I think the players need to feel comfortable with me so that they can understand what I’m thinking, and then good baseball can come out.”
After sweeping KT from April 4-6, the first series under Kim, Hanwha suffered its first loss in the NC on Sunday, 2-6. 토토사이트 순위 The batting lineup struggled with nine stranded runners, but a double steal by Kim Tae-yeon and Ha Joo-seok with runners on first and second in the top of the third inning put the game out of reach. Earlier, Jang Jin-hyuk’s failed steal of second base in the second inning ended the inning, but he came back in the very next inning to play aggressive baseball. Just like Doosan and NC in the past, Kim’s footwork is starting to find its way into Hanwha. Although the team lost its home debut against Daejeon, Kim’s walk home from work was filled with Hanwha fans chanting his name.