Bae Young-soo, who has been reforming the mound, “I don’t believe in the growth of Lotte’s pitchers until ‘play’”
Lotte coach Bae Young-soo is the busiest man this winter among KBO league leaders. While leading the pitching staff for 40 days at Sajik and Sangdong camps last year and not leaving the training ground for a single day, he is also preparing for another job as a coach for the World Baseball Classic (WBC) national team in the offseason.
The top priority is, of course, the growth of Lotte’s young pitchers. Coach Bae keeps meticulous notes on his mobile phone whenever he thinks of the new season’s ‘Trade Secret’. It contains the operating concept of the mound for the entire new season and the information of individual pitchers. As spring camp begins and practice matches continue, the contents are expected to become more extensive.
Coach Bae Young-soo appeared on <The Strongest Ballpoint Pen>, a baseball YouTube content newly organized by two baseball reporters (Ahn Seung-ho and Lee Yong-gyun) from Sports Kyunghyang, conveying both surprise and cautious stance on the Lotte pitchers he met at the last finish camp. He expressed his intention that he would never be optimistic until the lid was opened.
Coach Bae said, “When I first started finish camp, I was surprised to see the pitchers throwing very good balls. He saw a lot of fast pitchers,” he said. As such, youth and fastballs have been recognized as strengths of Lotte pitchers, and what is desperately needed once again is ‘pitching’. This is because being able to throw a fast ball and using it appropriately in a match with a hitter are two different things. Coach Bae said, “You have to play the game. We need the power to play the game,” he said. Coach Bae plans to refrain from the habit of pitchers turning around after throwing a ball in practice to check the velocity recorded on the electronic board. 토토사이트
Recently, news related to Lotte’s finish camp performance was reported. For example, left-hander Kim Jin-wook, who throws a competitive fastball but is unable to speed up the leap due to the ups and downs of his pitching, is said to be getting the ‘feel’ of his pitching along with his pitching balance. This means that new attempts, such as training to increase the number of throwing the ball on the main mound of Sajik Stadium, which is an open space, away from the narrow bullpen, are showing results. Of course, coach Bae’s advice and suggestions are incorporated.
However, Coach Bae ‘suspended’ the evaluation of the young pitchers. Coach Bae said with a laugh, “I don’t believe in the players at this time,” but “You have to try to know. You have to be able to do it in real life,” he said.
Lotte not only brought in catcher Yoo Gang-nam and infielder Roh Jin-hyeok in the offseason and made changes to the composition, but also recruited coach Bae Young-soo to reform the mound management. As one of the main points of observation in the 2023 season, coach Bae is not nervous this winter to bring the content to success.