This season, Lee Jae-hee, a new face in the Samsung Lions' winning team, showcased his incredible presence. He faced a bases-loaded crisis but displayed his extraordinary strength by striking out home run king Matt Davidson.
On the 25th, Lee Jae-hee took the mound in the home game against the NC Dinos at Daegu Samsung Lions Park, leading 8-4 in the 6th inning, and recorded 1 inning with 2 hits allowed, 1 walk, 2 strikeouts, and no runs.
After starting pitcher Choi Won-tae, Lee Jae-hee came in as the second pitcher and issued a walk to lead-off hitter Kim Hwi-jip. Lee Jae-hee induced a swing and a miss on the fourth pitch slider against Kim Sung-wook, who had a 1B-2S count. He then allowed an infield hit to Park Min-woo, putting two runners on base. Lee Jae-hee seemed to breathe a sigh of relief when he induced a flyout from Kim Ju-won to left field, but he got into a two-out, bases-loaded crisis after giving up an infield hit to Son Ah-seop.
Matt Davidson was at the plate. He was last year's top foreign hitter with a batting average of .360 and 46 home runs. Lee Jae-hee did not lose his composure. With a 1B-2S count, he caught Davidson swinging and striking out with a high fastball at 148 km/h on the fourth pitch. Was it said that there are crises after opportunities, and opportunities after crises? Samsung solidified the game by scoring 5 runs, including a grand slam from Kim Young-woong in the bottom of the 6th inning. Samsung defeated NC 14-5, achieving their first three consecutive wins after opening in 17 years.
After graduating from Daejeon High School, Lee Jae-hee was selected in the second round of the 2021 Samsung draft and made his professional debut. He has had 7 games with 1 loss and no wins in the first team, with an earned run average of 4.85.
After enlisting in the army, Lee Jae-hee transformed into a winning team pitcher and recorded 1 win, 2 saves, and 10 holds with an earned run average of 2.08 in 28 games on the Futures stage last year. Notably, he ranked joint first in the holds category. His velocity improvement is particularly noteworthy. Before enlisting, his maximum velocity was only 147 km/h, but last year, it reached 153 km/h.
Manager Park Jin-man also praised Lee Jae-hee's pitching abilities, saying, “He has the best stuff among the relief pitchers on the team, along with Bae Chan-seung. If he gains experience, he will be a key player in the winning team in the future.”
On the 23rd, after recording his first hold against the Daegu Kiwoom, Lee Jae-hee put himself in a two-out, bases-loaded situation in that day's game but managed to get through it without allowing any runs. He stated through the club's official YouTube channel, “Since I put myself in a crisis, I wasn't nervous; I only thought that I had to get through it. I threw while imagining that I would get a Samjin.”
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