LG manager Yeom Kyung-yeop said, "I think the starting lineup is a big contributor to the team's early run of the season. In fact, the starting pitchers performed well in the beginning of the season, which was the most difficult, and took the lead. On the other hand, I think the bullpen has a lot of anxiety factors.

Manager Yeom Kyung-yeop predicted that the bullpen will not have normal power until June. He also seemed to feel some pressure on the management of the bullpen. The LG bullpen, which showed great prowess when it won the 2023 Korean Series and the combined championship, had a tough season last year, reeling from various variables such as Ko Woo-suk's advance to the Major League, injuries and enlistment of key players.카지노사이트

The fact that LG Electronics simultaneously recruited Jang Hyun-sik and Kim Kang-ryul from the free agent market ahead of the upcoming season signaled that LG is taking the bullpen issue seriously. With competition equalizer (salary cap) tightening, LG has not spared no investment in the bullpen. However, LG's bullpen is cruising more than expected. It has an ERA in the two-point range. Of course, it could cause a game to fail, but this is more than expected. When it comes to ERA, it seems that manager Yeom is exaggerating.

There are positive factors such as Park Myung-geun's revival and struggles of several players, and right-handed fireballer Kim Young-woo (20), who was expected to be a rookie but could not be seen as a constant source of strength, is a big help. Kim Young-woo, who received the first round nomination of his team in the rookie draft in 2025, has been receiving high expectations from the coaching staff since the spring camp. Yeom even filmed it as a finishing resource for the next generation at the end of the spring camp.

It is Kim Young-woo, who boasts an enormous fireball with a maximum speed of 158 kilometers. It is not just fast speed, but both the number of turns and the vertical movement are good. Kim Young-woo started with a little less pressure, and has recently taken the mound in an important situation. He pitched 10 innings in 11 games of the season, outstanding performance with an ERA of 2.70 and a hit rate of 0.162. There are times when he plays difficult games with a walk, but he is holding on without collapsing. This is why you can expect his inner strength to be stronger than you think.

In the match against KIA in Gwangju on the 25th, Kim Young-woo's one inning was very big. The reason why LG's bullpen was expected to struggle early this year was that with closer Yoo Young-chan absent early in the season due to surgery, there were relatively few setup men who could surely block the sixth to eighth innings, and there was no guarantee of its stability. However, Kim Young-woo's performance made it easier to run the game. He eventually won.

Son Joo-young, the starting pitcher of the day, was disappointed. There were many walks. It was not his usual pitching. He couldn't help defense either. In the end, he had to throw only three ⅔ innings and go down the mound. If it were last year, it would have seemed far from the ninth inning. LG deployed experienced veterans named Kim Kang-ryul and Kim Jin-sung to barely contain Kia's momentum and come to the seventh inning in a crisis situation. If Park Myung-geun and Jang Hyun-sik, who are performing well this year, hold out the eighth to ninth innings, the seventh inning was very important.

Yeom chose Kim Young-woo, a rookie. It was probably the most difficult decision to make on the day when running the bullpen. He also had the burden of consecutive throws. However, he met expectations perfectly. He allowed walks to Han Jun-su, the first player in the seventh inning, but managed to end the inning by striking out all of Byun Woo-hyuk, Park Jae-hyun, and Park Chan-ho. And as LG scored the winning run in the eighth inning with a score of 5-5, Kim Young-woo finished the game with a pleasant record of his first victory since his debut.

Kim Young-woo's strength is his fastball. It is just physically difficult to hit the mid-to-late 150km range. However, this fastball cannot always be in constant condition. Depending on his condition on the day, his speed goes up and down, and his strength sometimes declines depending on the situation of consecutive games. However, Kim Young-woo, who once only showed one fastball, has become a player who does not rely on fastballs. He struck out Byun Woo-hyuk with a curve ball and Park Jae-hyun with a fork ball. He couldn't enter the team just for a fastball.

After the game, Kim Young-woo said, "After the game, I'm now practicing curveball, fork ball, and slider, and the strike rate has increased a lot. Then I go to the course I want a lot. Dong-won also signs a lot after looking at curves. I think I'm improving a lot because I keep throwing them during matches," adding, "I think I've become a completely different person (compared to high school)." At that time, more than 80% of them were fastballs. Since there are a lot of amazing professionals, I thought that a fastball should not be enough, so I practiced a lot of breaking balls. There were a lot of changes in pitching, and even if I couldn't during the match, I kept practicing, but I think I'm getting a lot better."

Meanwhile, LG won the game 6-5, taking a breather in the aftermath of the week-long luge series. "We were able to win because our winning pitchers took good care of our innings and pitched well," LG manager Yeom Kyung-yeop said after the game. "Hong Chang-gi and Moon Sung-joo tied the game in the sixth inning, which allowed us to bring the flow of the game to our side. Although we didn't have an RBI, Shin also gave us a good hit at a critical moment. He must have been agonizing a lot lately, but I hope he will take this opportunity to regain his confidence."

Coach Yeom then said, "It was a very important game, and I was able to win today's game because the team was united around the senior players and showed my will to win. "I want to praise the concentration of the entire team," he said, "I sincerely thank the fans for coming to support the away game even in the cold weather," and promised to do their best in this weekend's series.