“We’re going to create the next Park Young-hyun, players who are going to play for the next 10 years.”
This is a class apart from the ‘best of the best’.
KT Wiz head coach Lee Kang-cheol is enjoying a happy fall. At the beginning of the season, the team looked like they were going to finish last, but they finished the regular season in second place. It was a miraculous rebound. On top of that, after the final game of the season, he received an early contract extension. Three years, $2.4 billion in total. The best deal ever for a head coach. KT Group and the club gave Lee a lot of support heading into the postseason.
When you get the best treatment, you know you’ve earned it. Since Lee took over, KT has been on a consistent run of success, including winning the 2021 championship. At the same time, new players have continued to emerge. One such player is Park Young-hyun, a pitcher in his second year of high school. After performing beyond expectations last season and becoming one of KT’s best pitchers, Park became a national star at the Hangzhou Asian Games.
It’s not easy to juggle performance and development at the same time. However, Lee still has ambition. He wants to develop the next Park Young-hyun while trying to win the Korean Series this fall.
Lee has his eye on three pitchers: Son Dong-hyun, Lee Sang-dong, and Kim Young-hyun. In fact, Son has pitched well this season, going 8-5 with 15 holds and one save in 64 games. Lee Sang-dong also pitched in 36 games, and 2003-born Kim Young-hyun had 31 games under his belt. Importantly, the bullpen was able to hold up during a tough back-to-back schedule, especially with injuries to the starters late in the season, allowing KT to hold onto second place with relative ease. 안전놀이터 “We were able to test good players,” Lee said. It’s a process of developing players for the next 10 years,” Lee said.
Lee mentioned the younger of the three, Park Young-hyun, because of his big game experience. Lee believes that the rookie’s experience in the semi-finals last year helped him improve his game. Park had one hold and one save in four games, and he emphasized that his two-inning save in Game 2 would have been a huge plus for him.
Son Dong-hyun, Lee Sang-dong, and Young-hyun have yet to play in the postseason. While the team doesn’t know how the roster will look yet, Lee plans to give them a chance to play fall baseball after struggling during the regular season. “The postseason experience will help them grow even more,” Lee said.