"They said it was crazy"
Pro baseball LG Twins pitcher Song Seung-gi built good condition early at the national team camp and left for the U.S. spring camp. After finishing the national team's first Saipan camp on the 20th and returning home, Song Seung-gi departed for the Arizona camp in the United States with LG teammates through Incheon Airport on the 23rd.
Song Seung-gi was selected in the 2021 rookie draft, second phase, 9th round, 87th overall and joined LG. Through 2023 he pitched in eight first-team games for 9⅓ innings and then entered the military team. He showed tremendous development at the military team. In the 2024 Futures League he recorded 11 wins, 4 losses, a 2.41 earned run average and 121 strikeouts, winning the triple crown in wins, ERA and strikeouts.
He returned to LG last year, received five opportunities as a starter and produced a surprise performance. He recorded 28 games, 144 innings, 11 wins, 6 losses and a 3.50 ERA, greatly contributing to the combined championship.
Song Seung-gi was not selected for the national team for the evaluation games against the Czech Republic and Japan last November. Many young pitchers were chosen. After the celebratory reception, Song Seung-gi expressed his desire for the WBC national team and showed regret at not being included on the evaluation roster.
In fact, immediately after leaving the military team he debuted in the 2025 season as a starter for the first time, pitched a full season and threw the required innings. Having played through the Korean Series, accumulated fatigue meant he might have been better off not taking part in the evaluation games against the Czech Republic and Japan.
Song Seung-gi was included as one of the five left-handed pitchers in the national team's first camp announced in December. He can start, and in the Korean Series he appeared in three games as a bullpen pitcher, so he can also work out of the bullpen in short tournaments.
Song Seung-gi said, "I never dreamed of being selected for the national team. But being able to go to the Saipan camp made my parents happy and pleased those who cheered for me. I am looking forward to it and honored." He added, "Training with ace players showed me why they are good at baseball and have lasted so long. I learned a lot."
Song Seung-gi's teammate Park Dong-won is likely to be the national team's starting catcher. The pitchers' conditions were good at the Saipan first camp. Noh Kyung-eun and Ko Woo-seok were the first to do bullpen pitching, and by the end of camp 13 of the 16 pitchers had done bullpen pitching.
When asked whether he had caught Ko Woo-seok's pitches, Park Dong-won laughed and said, "(Unfortunately) I haven't caught them. The schedule didn't match." He added, "They said the pitchers went crazy. Everyone's condition was good." He went on, "Rumor has it that Song Seung-gi threw 24 bullpen pitches and 22 of them were strikes. It seems he prepared well."
Song Seung-gi said his goal for this season is, "I want to pitch deeper into games. I'm thinking 10 wins, but contributing to team victories comes before individual wins. Last year there was a stamina issue, and that part was regrettable. This year I want to show that for a shorter time."
Meanwhile, Song Seung-gi was rewarded for his outstanding performance last year. His salary rose from 36 million won by 277.8% to 136 million won in contract. Song Seung-gi laughed and said, "They took very good care of my salary and I signed a favorable contract. I'm thankful."
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