Is he a national killer?
NC right-hander Lee Yong-jun (21) had another accident. In the home game against the Lotte Giants in the 2023 Shinhan Bank KBO League held at Changwon NC Park on the 23rd, he started and pitched in 6 innings, striking out 5 and giving up 3 runs. He entered the starting lineup to fill the vacant position of Taylor Widener, who could not even make his debut due to a back injury, and it is a big success beyond expectations.
Lee Yong-jun is a third-year right-handed pitcher who graduated from Seoul Design High School and entered the 2021 2nd round 16th. On the 6th, he made a relief appearance against Doosan in Jamsil, and was suddenly selected as a starting pitcher with 1 hit, 4 strikeouts, 2 walks and no runs in 3⅔ innings. At the time, the standard starting pitching was only two times in the 2022 season.토토사이트
However, Lee Yong-jun played the innings reliably like a player who continued to be a starting pitcher. On the 12th, Changwon KT Jeonseo reported his first win as a starter with 5 innings, 4 hits, 3 strikeouts, 2 walks and 1 run. Moreover, the opposing starting pitcher was Koh Young-pyo, a sidearm starting pitcher representing Korea.
On the 18th, Lee Yong-jun pitched well with 3 hits, 4 strikeouts, 3 walks and 2 runs in 4 innings against LG in Jamsil. And for the first time on this day, he digested the pattern of taking four days off and starting in five days. It is interpreted that he was replaced even though he was in the middle of pitching 89 and no hits, taking into account his appearance for the first time in five days.
He pitched so well in the 7th inning that one wondered what the outcome would have been if he had been on the mound. His fastball averaged 143 km with a high of 149 km. He mixed a slider, curveball, and changeup, but his slider weight was noticeably higher. However, he did not use a moving fastball such as a cutter or two-seam.
Nevertheless, following KT and LG, Lotte batters could not properly target Lee Yong-jun’s ball. First of all, 36 balls were not many. He can get both his fastball and slider into the strike zone, and his command is good enough to get hitters off the bat. Here, it should be seen that the current situation of batters who do not know Lee Yong-jun is reflected a little.
Even so, Lee Yong-jun’s surprise performance in April is surprising. Coincidentally, the opposing pitcher that day was also Park Se-woong (Lotte), who had been to the WBC. Park Se-woong was also not bad with 2 earned runs in 5 innings that day, but it was Lee Yong-jun’s victory by decision. Lee Yong-jun showed formidable competitiveness by winning by decision in a face-to-face match against national pitchers from Go Young-pyo to Park Se-woong. We need to see more samples and how to deal with them after being analyzed, but the three starting games are quite impressive.
For Lee Yong-jun, not being able to secure victory was a tee in the ok. On this day, in the beginning of the 9th inning, finisher Lee Yong-chan gave up 5 runs, and NC lost 3-5.