Choi Ji-gang (22), the first pitcher of the Doosan Bears’ Lee Seung-yeop team, had an impressive closing camp, expressing his outlook for his third professional season. With the current momentum, he is expected to play a role as one of the pillars of the Doosan’s bullpen in next season. Doosan manager Lee Seung-yeop cited Choi Ji-gang as the most impressive pitcher at the 2023 closing camp. In addition to improving his skills, he was deeply impressed by Choi’s hard work and will.

“Choi Ji-gang has gotten so much better. I’m not going to put much meaning on it because I only threw a bullpen session,” Lee said. “I happened to go to the public bath at 9:30 p.m. during the closing camp, and there was Choi Ji-gang there. I heard he worked out at night. I felt a sense of goal.” 바카라사이트

Choi Ji-gang is a 22-year-old young right-handed pitcher who spent his second year as a professional baseball player. Originally from Dongseong High School in Gwangju and Gangneung-Yeongdong University, Choi joined the Doosan Bears’ training team in 2022 after struggling a lot, and was given a chance to play in the first team from the first year, but enjoyed a bitter taste of professional baseball with an ERA of 21.60 (four earned runs in one ⅔) in two games, and played in the Future’s spring camp in Icheon this year, not Australia.

Choi, who has steadily built up his physical strength in the second division, was called upon by coach Lee Seung-yeop at the exhibition game. He also achieved his dream by joining the opening roster of the season, leaving an impact of one hold, one save and an earned run average of 2.25. At the time, Lee said, “I received good reports from the second division. I have decided that I can fill the gap in Kim’s injury,” giving Choi the role of a must-winner.

Choi pitched as a relief pitcher against Lotte in Jamsil on April 1, the opening game of the 2023 Shinhan Bank SOL KBO League, and became the winning pitcher with one strikeout and no run during the ⅔ innings. It was the moment when he acquired the historical title of Doosan’s Lee Seung-yeop’s first winning pitcher.

Choi Ji-gang, who was removed from the first division after June 3, had to restructure himself for nearly three months in the second division. He was called upon again by Lee on August 27, and contributed greatly to Doosan’s struggle for ranking in the standings by allowing two runs and an earned run average of 2.45 in seven ⅓ in seven games in September.

Choi Ji-gang was not included in the entry of the wild card game against NC, but succeeded in imprinting his presence with a meaningful record of 2-1, 2 holds and 5.32 ERA in 25 games, and once again impressed Lee through the closing camp.

“Choi Ji-gang became the winning pitcher for this year’s opening game, but he suffered ups and downs as he moved between the first and second teams, and his ball control had ups and downs. I am well aware of this, and I am trying to catch him,” Lee said. “I liked both bullpen pitching and live pitching during the closing training. If I maintain my current skills, it will help the bullpen a lot next year.”

Through the closing camp, Doosan also confirmed with its eyes the improvement of not only Choi Ji-gang but also other newcomers such as Choi Joon-ho, Kim Yoo-sung and Baek Seung-woo. It is a welcome phenomenon for Doosan, which had a poor bridge between the starting pitcher and the closing pitcher in the first year of Lee. Lee also smiled satisfactorily at the results, saying, “Through this finishing training, we have created a foundation for a little more solid.”

Doosan, which swept away the shock of ranking ninth by returning to the fall baseball league for the first time in two years, aims to start the postseason at a higher place next season. To do so, young pitchers who have confirmed their potential through finishing training should immediately grow into a sense of strength.

“Actually, we couldn’t find our problems in the final training session,” Lee said. “We need to think about how to create synergy with the coaching staff and the team to produce good results,” adding, “We hope that young players will perform well next year. We will closely watch the players and discuss them with our coach to find good players.”