“I don’t think I ever had any distrust of closers.”
Doosan Bears coach Lee Seung-yeop showed his faith in closer Hong Kun-hee, who has been showing good pitches every day.
Coach Lee talked about Hong Kun-hee ahead of the home game against the LG Twins in the 2023 professional baseball KBO League, which was scheduled to be held on the 6th at Jamsil Baseball Stadium in Seoul. Since then, the rain did not decrease, and the match was canceled due to rain when the stadium situation made it difficult to play.
Hong Kun-hee is a right-handed pitcher who debuted with the KIA Tigers in 2011. During the 2020 season, he wore a Doosan uniform through a trade with infielder Ryu Ji-hyuk, and until last season, his performance was 20 wins, 39 losses, 27 saves, 39 holds, and an average ERA of 5.33 in 339 appearances (540 innings).
Hong Kun-hee, who has been established as Doosan’s closer since the 2022 season, struggled a bit because his condition did not improve earlier this year. From the opening game against the Lotte Giants at Jamsil Baseball Stadium on April 1, he committed a blown save with 1 run in 0.1 innings. After that, he had no more blown saves, but the uneasy pitching continued until early April.
Then, Hong Kun-hee has recently successfully rebounded completely. Since the match against Kiwoom Heroes in Jamsil on the 11th of last month (three, 1 run in 1 inning), it has continued a scoreless streak of 6 games in a row, and has already accumulated 6 saves. This ranks third in this category, following Jinyong Seo (12, SSG Landers) and Wonjoong Kim (7, Lotte).
Director Lee Seung-yeop said of Hong Kun-hee, “I got better. He said, “My speed and position have improved since the demonstration game or the beginning of the season.” He is throwing (the ball) well in the direction he wants,” he raised his thumbs up.토토사이트
As mentioned earlier, Hong Kun-hee was somewhat shaken at the beginning of the season. However, it is said that the director never doubted him.
Manager Lee Seung-yeop said, “I don’t think I’ve ever had any anxiety about the closer,” and showed firm trust in him, saying, “Since our team’s closer was Hong Kun-hee, there was no distrust or anxiety.”
Until the game on the 7th, Hong Geon-hee had a good record of 2.25 ERA along with 6 saves in 12 games (12 innings) this season. This is because he effectively suppressed his runs even though his pitch did not rise at the beginning of the season.
Coach Lee said, “If you are a finishing pitcher, you have to do that. The finishing pitcher is the last pitcher to protect our team’s victory without a pitcher behind (holding),” he said. “(Hong Kun-hee) is a pitcher with that much responsibility. I didn’t talk often (with Hong Kun-hee), but when I saw him training, I felt that he had a lot of responsibility and worked hard when he himself was not good. He wasn’t worried at all. He thought that one day he would find his position,” he emphasized.
However, the overall bullpen of Doosan has not been good recently. On the 3rd and 4th, in the match against the Hanwha Eagles, which were held in a row in the home room, they gave up a total of 13 runs and collapsed.
Manager Lee said, “I took a day off yesterday (5th), so it must have been enough,” and said, “Since Hyung-beom Lee and Jung-soo Park joined as part of the 5th, I wonder if it will become a stronger bullpen,” he expected the bullpen to rebound.
Leave a Reply