“Now that I have my first win, I want to get better and go to the (Hangzhou) Asian Games this year.”
Choi Seung-yong (22, Doosan Bears) made his fourth start of the season against kt Wiz in the ‘2023 Shinhan Bank SOL KBO League’ held at Jamsil Stadium on the 22nd.
In his first appearance of the season (against Jamsil NC Dinos on the 5th), Choi Seung-yong collapsed greatly with 10 hits (1 home run), 2 walks, 2 strikeouts and 8 runs in 1⅔ innings. Since then, he has been gradually finding stability.
On this day, Choi Seung-yong showed off a clean pitch in the early part of the game. He was hit by the lead batter in the 1st and 2nd innings and put out a runner, but blocked the follow-up batter and did not allow a run. In the middle of the game, in the beginning of the 4th inning, he was safe with 1st and 2nd bases, and in the top of the 5th inning, he faced a crisis with 2 outs and loaded bases, but he caught an out count himself and continued pitching scoreless. 메이저사이트
His final performance was 5 innings, 6 hits, 1 walk, 4 strikeouts and no runs. He contributed to his team’s 5-1 victory and earned their first win of the season. The four-seam fastball (52 pitches) reached up to 147 km, and the slider (22 pitches), curveball (13 pitches), and splitter (6 pitches) were in good harmony.
Choi Seung-yong, who we met after the game, smiled at his first win of the season. “Since the first appearance of the season was not good, I talked a lot with the coach and my brothers and changed my pitching form a lot. It’s the same. I followed without shaking my head once.”
He added, “I thought I would not give up runs because the batter brothers gave up points against the opponent’s ace with difficulty.
On this day, all players except for the first and second hitters Kim Min-hyuk and Kang Baek-ho were right-handed hitters. The situation could have been a difficult fight for left-handed pitcher Choi Seung-yong. Choi Seung-yong is overcoming it bit by bit by throwing a splitter rather than a changeup. He said, “Right now I’m throwing a splitter rather than a changeup. The splitter pitch seems to be to a certain extent, and now I think I can refine it a little more and make the angle bigger so that I can strike out.”
Choi Seung-yong, who recorded his first victory of the season, said he would continue his trend. “It seems that my pitching is getting better and better. (First win of the season) I will try to improve a little more. Now that I have my first win, I want to get better and go to the Asian Games this year.” I think it would be nice to go with him because I am closest to my brother. Also, I want to go with (Ahn) Jaesuk, my motivation for joining the team.”