He led the Doosan Bears on the mound with 17 wins in 2019. This season, he has yet to win a game since returning to the mound in June. The decision was made to send him to the second team. The decision was made to give him a chance to regroup and come back stronger. The protagonist is Lee Young-ha (26).
Ahead of their 2023 Shinhan Bank SOL KBO League home game against the KT Wiz at Jamsil Stadium on April 4, the Doosan Bears removed pitchers Lee Young-ha and Choi Won-jun from the first team roster. Instead, the Bears called up outfielder Kim In-tae and pitcher Lee Byung-hun to the first team.
Young-ha, who made his comeback on June 3, has appeared in 19 games this season. All 19 games were in relief. He has a 1-2 record with four saves. In a total of 19⅔ innings pitched, he allowed 24 hits (2 home runs), 14 walks, 16 strikeouts, 17 runs (16 earned), a WHIP of 1.93 and a batting average of 0.304.
In the early part of the season, he was the closer. In June, he went 2-2 with a winless record and an 8.68 ERA in 12 games. In July, he improved to 1-0 with a 4.82 ERA in six games. However, he faltered, giving up runs in four consecutive games starting on July 25 against Lotte, prompting manager Lee Seung-yeop to remove him from the first team roster.
Lee spoke to the media ahead of the game on Thursday and explained the reasons for Lee’s expulsion, saying, “In recent games, our run rate has gone up. His strike rate also dropped. I thought it was better to make adjustments in the second team. I made this decision with the idea that I needed to refresh my mind and get the reception.” Lee explained the background.
He continued, “I think we lost a lot of tension. I think the tension dropped a lot because we had to climb a lot while we were losing. If we can regain our composure and climb up, we can climb up in important situations. I hope I can regain the confidence I lost in the second team. Koo is a good pitcher in the first place. If I can improve my strike rate, I’m definitely a good pitcher. My fastball is one thing. I need to work on myself a lot. He’s definitely a player who can help our team. I hope his stay in the second team won’t be long,” he said, adding a message of support.안전놀이터
Doosan has good bullpen options this season. However, if Lee gets back on track, the bullpen will be even stronger. “When we are winning, we can send out more than five pitchers, including Hong Gun-hee, Chung Chul-won, Park Chi-guk, Kim Myung-shin, and Choi Seung-yong,” Lee said, explaining the current composition of the bullpen, noting that Kim Kang-ryul is “probably going to go up in a comfortable situation rather than a tight situation.”
As for Choi Won-jun, he said, “He has a stiff back, so we’re going to focus on pain relief until this week. I’ll take one turn off and then pitch next Sunday (Nov. 13). I don’t know if I’ll be 100 percent at that time, but I’m building up to that point.” “We could call up a pitcher from the second team, or we could go to a bullpen day,” he said of alternate starts.