Fortunately, I didn't see the players, so I didn't look ugly."
Coach Kyung Heon-ho, who newly joined the SSG Landers pitching coach, settled his 25-year relationship with the LG Twins.메이저놀이터
LG has always been the only LG player in my professional career. I was nominated first by LG in 1996 and graduated from Hanyang University in 2000, before joining the team. Even after my playing career ended, I had coached at LG for more than 10 years. It was my first time to move to a non-LG team.
It is a pitching coach that manager Lee Sung-yong had in mind for a year ago. At that time, the team could not be moved due to circumstances, but this time it was done. As his relationship with General Manager Kim Jae-hyun is deep, he can start in a more comfortable atmosphere even if he comes to a completely new team.
Coach Kyung Heon-ho is currently coaching pitchers at the wrap-up camp that is currently underway in Satsumasendai, Kagoshima, Japan. SSG has set up a roster of players in their 20s including Choi Hyun-suk, Chung Dong-yoon, and Kim Geon-woo. Coach Kyung is proactively giving advice to promising players based on his know-how and data analysis. Some pitchers have already seen their changes.
Coach Kyung Heon-ho said, "I've only been in one team for 25 years. I've heard a lot about it with the players, but I think I would have gotten emotional if I saw them at the end, but fortunately, I didn't see them. I haven't seen them look ugly."
The task is heavy as we are well aware of the situation of SSG, which has been agonizing over the entire mound this season. Coach Gyeong Heon-ho said, "It was a little different when I thought about moving to SSG than when I played against SSG as an opposing team. When I saw his pitching performance, I thought it would be difficult (to get a good result). But when I came here, I thought, "It's better than I thought." I keep thinking about many things and doing it while looking at the players at the dorm. It will take some time before I become the No. 1 pitcher, but I think I will get better if I prepare like this."
Choi Hyun-suk, Park Sung-bin, Park Si-hoo, Kim Gun-woo, Shin Ji-hwan, and Jung Dong-yoon are already aiming for the 2025 season while watching the various strengths and weaknesses of pitchers currently training in the closing camp.
SSG has a thirst for a left-handed bullpen, but its eyes are on the need for a better pitcher than focusing on left and right sides. Coach Kyung Heon-ho said, "It's good to have a good left hand, but we can't use a left hand that doesn't allow us to play. Kim Min, who joined the team through the trade, is a good thrower, so he can also show strength to left-handed batters. If (left-handed pitchers) decide not to do it until next year's camp, he will have no choice but to go as a right-handed pitcher while dealing with left-handed batters."
They are also considering harmonizing new and old players. SSG believes that chances are high that two foreign pitchers, Kim Kwang-hyun and Moon Seung-won will be given the chance to start the next season, while Noh Kyung-eun, Cho Byung-hyun, and Seo Jin-yong, who are under FA contract, will be assigned to the bullpen to some extent. "If Seo is okay, about seven players including Seo will be fixed," coach Gyeong Heon-ho said. "However, it also means that the remaining seven seats are empty. By giving promising players a chance, I think the team should nurture and change its players by looking further than next year."
In the closing camp, he saw how different pitchers have become. "When I first came here, I saw SSG players doing what they told me to do. Rather than doing so, I am encouraging the players to find something and do it themselves. I was not able to do that in the beginning, but as time passed, I started to see the players doing it on their own. Things are changing as I feel for myself how to exercise and such things. If this is well established, I think SSG can become a strong team," coach Kyung Heon-ho encouraged.