It was a great year for baseball. Ko Woo-suk (26, San Diego Padres), who once played as the closing pitcher for his team, has now left for the Major League. Yoo Young-chan (27), who is now in his second year as a professional golfer, will be responsible for the team’s back door to the 2024 season. 안전 토토사이트
Yoo Young-chan, a graduate of Deoksung Elementary School (Ansan Little), Bae Myung-joong, Bae Myung-go, and Konkuk University, was nominated by the LG Twins in the 2020 rookie draft, ranked 43rd overall in the second and fifth rounds. Yoo Young-chan, who failed to make his debut in the first division, was ordered to cancel his call-up in 2022 after starting his mandatory military service as a social service worker in 2020.
And he signed an official contract with the LG Twins in 2023. His annual salary was 31 million won (31,000 U.S. dollars), which is 1 million won more than the minimum annual salary of 30 million won. He impressed Yeom Kyung-yeop, the coach of the team, since the spring camp. Then, he made his debut in the first division of the team as he dreamed of playing in the opening game of the regular season.
Early in the 2023 season, LG’s former must-winner Ko Woo-seok briefly left the team due to a shoulder injury, while Jung Woo-young and Lee Jung-yong also looked shaky. However, the “Plan B” that Yeom had prepared for the spring camp shone. Ham Deok-ju, Park Myung-geun, and Yoo Young-chan were the main characters.
In the end, Yoo took the mound as relief pitcher in 67 games during the 2023 season, recording six wins, three losses, one save, 12 holds, and an ERA of 3.44. During 68 innings, he had 55 hits (four homers), 40 walks, and seven physical, 55 strikeouts, and 27 runs (26 earned). Among LG pitchers, he played in the most games after Kim Jin-seong (80 games).
With Go Woo-suk leaving for the San Diego Padres, Yeom Kyung-yeop, the coach of the team, decided early on that he would finish the 2024 season with Yoo Young-chan. “I think (Yoo) Young-chan will do it to some extent. Of course, baseball doesn’t always work out as I thought. It is possible that the team will definitely face difficulties. However, we need to help the coaching staff, including myself, overcome the difficulties. That is why the most important thing is to make a year where Yoo Young-chan can establish himself as a save pitcher,” he said.
Regarding the reason behind Yoo Young-chan’s selection as the closing pitcher, he said, “I have fastball speed close to that of a power pitcher. I think I can speed up my speed by 1-2 kilometers compared to now. There is also a positive aspect that I can develop. If I improve my completeness in folk balls and sliders through this spring camp, I think I can make 30 saves in the first season. I also got good scores from the coaching staff in terms of mental performance, which is the part that a finishing pitcher needs the most. I have no experience as a closing pitcher, but I had great experience in the Korean Series last year. He said, “I am a pitcher with a very high probability of success as I settled as the closing pitcher in our team.”
Yoo Young-chan, who met with reporters after the LG Twins’ New Year’s greeting at Jamsil Stadium on the 5th, said, “People around me tell me I’m a closing pitcher, but I don’t think I’ve settled down yet. The opportunity has come, and I’m trying to do my best.”
In the Korean Series last year, Yoo contributed to his team’s victory by pitching well in three games as relief pitcher, and allowing three hits, one walk, six strikeouts and one run in six innings. “I did have experience in the Korean Series, but I did not go out as a closing pitcher. I think I will feel more responsible if I go out to the closing pitcher from now on. I tend to worry a lot before I go on the mound and feel a lot of pressure, but I get stronger when I go on the mound. I think I have to feel it while finishing the game,” Yoo said.
Yoo Young-chan has already signed an annual salary for the 2024 season. According to Star News, Yoo’s salary was confirmed to be 85 million won. This is a whopping 174 percent increase compared to the 2023 season when he received the lowest annual salary. This year, he became the star of the team’s highest annual salary increase rate throughout the LG Twins’ squad. “I will ask a lot of people around me. I will ask Kim Jin-sung for advice,” Yoo said. “I threw to survive last season. I want to come to my senses even more and become a pitcher who throws a ball in the direction that my team wins.”