Can LG Twins pitcher Son Joo-young take the mound as the starting pitcher for the opening game next year? Manager Yeom Kyung-yeob expected Son Joo-young to step up this season by positioning him as the second starter.
Son Joo-young will pitch as the starting pitcher in the second match of the season against the Lotte Giants on the 23rd at Jamsil Stadium in Seoul.
The foreign pitcher Chi-rinos is the first starter, and Hernandez is the third starter. Son Joo-young has been strong against Lotte, and there is also an intention to have Hernandez pitch twice as a starter next week from Tuesday to Sunday. Son Joo-young has an impressive record of 2 wins and no losses with an earned run average of 1.80 in 3 games against Lotte. Last year, he became the winning pitcher after pitching 6 innings without giving up a run in one game as a starter.
The bigger picture for second starter Son Joo-young is set for next year's opening game. Manager Yeom Kyung-yeob, in an interview with reporters before the game on the 23rd, explained Son Joo-young's second starter position, saying, "The early part of the season is important. We are matching the starting pitchers against strong teams. Also, this has a different meaning for Joo-young. In fact, I had a lot of concerns about placing Im Chan-kyu and Son Joo-young as the second starter. Chan-kyu also performed decently against Lotte, so he could have been the second starter. However, to make Joo-young the starting pitcher for next year's opening game, I decided to place him as the second starter."
Son Joo-young had his first full-time starting season last year. He started as the fifth starter and recorded 9 wins and 10 losses with an earned run average of 3.79 in 28 games. He logged 144⅔ innings, marking his first time meeting the minimum innings requirement, and among local pitchers, he had the second-lowest earned run average after Samsung's Won Tae-in.
He showcased impressive pitching in the postseason. Manager Yeom expressed confidence that Son Joo-young could grow to become the national team’s left-handed ace, following in the footsteps of Ryu Hyun-jin, Kim Kwang-hyun, and Yang Hyun-jong.
Manager Yeom said, "Joo-young has the ability to achieve 13 wins this year. This is possible because there are field players who can support those 13 wins. It is difficult for a pitcher to achieve 10 wins on their own. A typical case is Ryu Hyun-jin, right? Even though he had the lowest earned run average in Hanwha, he only had 9 wins before going to the United States. There are no wins without contributions from field players." This underscores that LG's solid defense and decent hitting can support the starting pitcher’s win count.
He further noted Son Joo-young's expectations, "This year, he should aim for around 170 innings, and to become the first starter, he needs to pitch 180 innings. That’s 30 games at 180 innings. Joo-young has good mechanics, so he can play baseball for a long time. If the mechanics are bad, you’ll likely need surgery after about 3 years. I always mention that pitchers with good mechanics, like Sun Dong-yeol, Choi Dong-won, Jang Myung-boo, Lee Kang-cheol, and Jo Gye-hyun, have not undergone (shoulder or elbow) surgery, right?"
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