SSG lost 5-9 in the match against KIA held at SSG Landers Field in Incheon on the 2nd. In the 4th inning against 2-2, Kirk McCarty, the starter, collapsed, allowing 6 runs in a big inning in an instant, and the collapse was not rectified until the end of the game.
However, SSG fans who took their places in the stadium remained and supported the players until the end. There was also something to see. While the young pitchers who took the mound in turn made their appearance in front of the fans, even though the game was lost, they were able to head home with a list of comforting distances. Regardless of the result, it is thanks to each of them throwing the ball vigorously and appealing their strengths. Fans applauded the future of the team that came a little closer.
On this day, SSG had three rookie-level pitchers on the mound. Song Young-jin (19), who took the mound as the second pitcher after McCarty collapsed, was nominated in the second round of this year’s draft. Roun Lee (19), who took the mound in the 8th inning, is a first-round pick in this year’s draft. Shin Heon-min (21), who made the mound in the ninth inning, is a second-year pitcher who was nominated in the second round (2nd overall) last year. On the 1st, they did not have a chance to come out because they were winning the game, but on the 2nd, ahead of the 2nd maintenance of the entry, a relatively suitable starting situation came.
SSG, which had a sense of crisis that there were relatively few pitchers who could throw fast balls across the team mound, exercised the right to nominate players who could meet this requirement over the past two years. All of them are pitchers who threw fast balls in high school, and there is high expectation that they will be able to throw faster balls if they go through systematic training in the future. He joined the opening roster by surviving the selection of boulders that took place at Florida and Okinawa camps and exhibition games.
Song Young-jin, who took the mound in the 4th inning, was hit by a double that passed the height of the right fielder to Hwang Dae-in, the first hitter, and allowed the runner to lose a run. He threw a fastball to catch the count on the first pitch, and Hwang Dae-in was aiming for it. It was a burden in many ways because there were runners on the first professional appearance throughout the 1st and 2nd teams, and even the first hitter hit. Afterwards, however, he was responsible for 1⅔ innings without allowing a hit.
In the 8th inning, Roun Lee struggled by giving up one hit and one walk, but extinguished the fire himself by striking out two and finished his first professional appearance. It was impressive that he calmly struck out a foreign hitter named Socrates without being agitated even in a situation where he gave up one run due to an error. 안전놀이터
Shin Hun-min, who took over the baton in the ninth inning, caught Hwang Dae-in with a left fielder fly ball, Byeon Woo-hyeok with a second baseman fly ball, and Lee Chang-jin with a first baseman ground ball, finishing off the first appearance of the season neatly with a three-way offense. He finished the first inning with 10 balls after stealing the opponent’s batter’s timing with a fastball and curve combination. It was noteworthy that he had a good first pitch strike rate, and played an aggressive game before being cornered by 3B.
On this day, Lee Rowun threw a fastball of up to 152 km per hour (based on SSG power analysis below), and Song Young-jin and Shin Heon-min threw a fastball of up to 149 km. There was also an expectation that if the body was more relaxed and it was a comfortable situation without the tension of the first game, it would be possible to increase the speed. It was a match that gave SSG fans a glimpse of new possibilities, who had looked with envy at the 150 km prospects that often appear in other teams. They are all green young guns around the age of 20. There will be twists and turns, but you can’t help but look forward to it.