Ultimately, those who persevere are the winners. Left-handed pitcher Kim Ho-jun (27, Doosan Bears), a product of the youth training program, successfully made the opening day roster for the 2025 season with a spring training earned run average in the 2.00 range.
Doosan Bears manager Lee Seung-yeop met with reporters on the 18th at the KT Wiz Park in Suwon, where the final spring training game against the KT Wiz was set to take place, and announced, "(For the opening game) the left-handed bullpen will include Kim Ho-jun alongside Lee Byung-hun."
Manager Lee Seung-yeop explained the decision to include Kim Ho-jun on the opening day roster, saying, "(Kim) Ho-jun recognized that he had reached a limit after finishing last season, and he seems to have sensed that part well. He is not throwing fastballs, but is throwing everything with a two-seam fastball, and he did very well against Lee Yong-kyu in the recent game against Kiwoom Heroes. I deployed him in many games during this spring training to see the changes in him."
He added, "It's not many innings, but I concluded that he can face left-handed batters in the first team. Yesterday's (17th) game had a few too many balls, but overall, I think it's better to have Kim Ho-jun pitch after Lee Byung-hun among our left-handed options. Park Ji-ho is not pitching due to back issues. (For the opening day roster) Lee Byung-hun and Kim Ho-jun will be the two players."
Kim Ho-jun is a left-handed pitcher who graduated from Ansan Technical High School and joined the Doosan Bears as a developmental player in 2018, after playing for the independent league team Paju Challengers. Now in his eighth year as a professional, his career statistics in the first team consist of 19 games, with 1 win, 2 losses, and an earned run average of 9.37. It was only in 2023 that he realized his dream of debuting as a professional, making a remarkable first win last year and recording a performance of 1 win, 2 losses, and an earned run average of 8.78 over 16 games, standing out for the first time.
As manager Lee Seung-yeop indicated, Kim Ho-jun completely abandoned the existing fastball-centric pattern after the 2024 season and adopted a two-pitch style combining two-seam fastballs and sliders. It was a challenging endeavor, but to survive, he boldly discarded the fastball, which resulted in a spring training earned run average of 2.25 (1 run in 4 innings) and 3 strikeouts over 5 games. After finishing the final mock exam with no runs in 1 inning, including 2 walks during the game against KT on the 17th, his inclusion in the opening day roster for the second consecutive year was confirmed.
Meanwhile, Doosan finished spring training with a record of 3 wins, 2 ties, and 4 losses after their game was canceled due to heavy snowfall. Manager Lee Seung-yeop, who had a perfect record of 8 wins and 1 tie in last year's spring training, stated, "The biggest gain from spring training is that, unlike last year, we lost a lot. We confirmed many players we wanted to evaluate, and we also witnessed the potential level for the season. The growth of young players was noticeable, and the new captain (Yang Eui-ji) skillfully led the atmosphere. Everything feels much better than last year, and we can enter the season with expectations."
Doosan will play the opening game of the 2025 season against the SSG Landers in Incheon on the 22nd. The new foreign duo of Cole Irvin and Jack Logg will take the mound as starting pitchers for the opening series on the 22nd and 23rd.
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