That’s a bit of a shocker. But it’s serious. The LG Twins are still struggling with domestic starters.
We’re not even halfway through the season yet, and there are still seven Korean pitchers starting. The Korean starting rotation of Kim 먹튀검증 Yoon-sik, Min-ho Lee, and Kang Hyo-jong began to unravel with Kim’s struggles and Min-ho Lee’s early injury. Luckily, Im Chan-kyu pitched well and became the domestic ace, and the starting lineup was reorganized as Im Chan-kyu, Kim Yun-sik, and Lee Ji-gang replaced the increasingly weak Kang Hyo-jong. Lee Min-ho then came in and the lineup was briefly made up of Kim Chan-gyu, Kim Yoon-sik, and Lee Min-ho, before Kim Yoon-sik was removed and Lee Sang-young came in.
However, the highly anticipated Lee Sang-young was dropped to the second team after two games, leaving a hole in the starting five.
LG coach Yeom Kyung-yup said, “The starting lineup is not organized. If we continue to hold on like this, there will be no winning streak in the second half of the season, it will be difficult, and the team may falter.” “As it is, we have no vision for the second half and postseason. We just have to survive. If it continues like this, it won’t be easy to win the regular season championship we aimed for.”
What Yeom wants from his starters is for them to keep their teammates focused by throwing without giving up, even when they get hit. “It shouldn’t be a game that distracts you from the beginning of the game, and I think we need to eliminate that. I think we need to have a starting lineup that is stable even if we get beaten,” he said.
We’ll have a solid starting lineup before the end of the first half. For now, we’ll start Lee Jung-yong, a must-win, in the place of Lee Sang-young. It’s an unexpected card. LG has a lot of starting pitching prospects, but this time, they’re going to start a bullpen pitcher instead of a starter.
Coach Yeom said, “I thought of Yoo Young-chan and Lee Jung-yong as starters. But Young-chan had too few innings last year. If we start him now, it would be too much and he could get injured. He’s also pitching well in the bullpen.” “Jung Yong-i is likely to be a starter in the majors next year. So it’s not a bad idea to start him now. His performance in the bullpen was not very good, so it’s not bad to go to the starting lineup as a change of pace.”
Lee Jung-yong was OK with it. “After the game on the 20th, we had a coaching staff meeting and decided on Lee Jung-yong, and we had a meeting with him. I thought it was not bad because it would be a change of pace if Jung Yong was going to start anyway.”
Lee was drafted in the first round in 2019 and served as a bullpen pitcher. In 2021, he went 3-3 with a 15-hole record, and last year, he went 4-4 with one save and 22 saves as a set-up man alongside Jung Woo-young. This season, he is 3-3 with one save and a 5.57 ERA.
He has appeared in 188 games since his debut, but has never made a start. He has a career record of 13-7 with four saves and 42 holds.
Lee made his starting debut on May 25 against the Jamsil Lotte. 토토꽁포인트 He only pitched out of the bullpen, so he couldn’t get his pitch count up right away. “We’ll consider it a bullpen day and start him with 50 pitches, and we’ll increase his pitch count every time he pitches,” Yeom said.
Yeom’s plan for the second half of the season is to use a foreign one-two punch of Casey Kelly and Adam Plutko, with Im Chan-gyu as the third starter and Kim Yoon-sik and Lee Min-ho as the fourth and fifth starters who will return later. The idea is to rest the three and let the more fit pitchers pitch.
LG’s weakness is its domestic starters. If this weakness is not erased, LG will have a hard time challenging for the title. When will LG’s domestic starters stabilize?