His fastball reached up to 150 km. Finally, the results of a fresh start have arrived.
LG Twins pitcher Jeong Woo-young of professional baseball made his first appearance of the season in the Futures League and recorded a scoreless inning.
Jeong Woo-young took the mound in the top of the ninth in the 2026 Futures League game against the Samsung Lions at Icheon LG Champions Park on the 25th. He was allowed to pitch in a low-pressure situation with LG leading 12-4.
He got a first-pitch strike against the first batter, Lee Seo-jin, and induced a grounder to the second baseman for the out from a 1-2 count. In the matchup with pinch hitter Kang Min-seong, from a 2-1 count he induced a flyout to center to record two outs.
Left-handed batter Jo Se-eik came in as a pinch hitter, and from a 2-1 count a grounder to the second baseman ended the game. One inning, three up three down; he threw 12 pitches, seven of them strikes. His fastball topped out at 150 km.
Jeong Woo-young, whose performance had declined since 2023, completely revamped his pitching form and mindset at this year's spring camp. He restarted from the basics. Over the past two to three years, Jeong tried various methods he wanted, including going to a training center in the United States to train at his own expense. But he could not regain the velocity he had at his best. Manager Youm Kyoung-youb said, "Now try it the way I tell you," and Jeong followed.
On March 22, Jeong appeared in an exhibition game against Samsung and collapsed, giving up four runs on one hit, two walks and one hit-by-pitch without recording an out. Manager Youm Kyoung-youb blamed himself, saying, "I brought him up too quickly. He was good in training... with his body not yet accustomed, the same poor form from before appeared." After that he trained without any game appearances, and after the regular season opened he was sent to the second team to train for a month.
After a month, in his first real game he threw a perfect inning and reached a top speed of 150 km, with his control not shaky. Above all, getting a good result in his first appearance after a month of training gave him psychological confidence.
In the first inning, LG produced a 1-2 base situation with one out from a hit-by-pitch by Eom Tae-kyung and a walk by Lee Jae-won, and Ham Chang-geun's single to left drove in the first run. Lee Tae-hoon drew a walk to load the bases with one out, and Kim Joo-seong struck out. Seo Young-jun was hit by a pitch to push the score to 2-0.
In the second inning, with one out Samsung had a bases-loaded opportunity after consecutive hits by Lee Han-min and Kim Jae-seong and a walk by Park Jang-min. Kim Sang-min drew a walk to force in a run, and Kang Joon-seo also drew a bases-loaded walk to tie it 2-2.
In the bottom of the second with one out, Eom Tae-kyung reached on a double and successfully stole third. A grounder to shortstop by Kang Min-gyun drove in a run, giving them a 3-2 lead. After that it was a pitchers' duel until the sixth inning. Samsung scored one in the top of the seventh to tie it 3-3.
LG seized momentum with consecutive big innings in the seventh and eighth. After one out, Kang Min-gyun reached on a left-side double and Lee Jae-won followed with a right-center double to take a 4-3 lead. Ham Chang-geun's single to right made it first and third, and Kwak Min-ho hit a right-field double to bring both runners home. They led 6-3.
Samsung replaced its pitcher from Kim Baek-san with Oh Yoon-seong. Kim Joo-seong hit a single to center that drove in a run, pushing the score to 7-3. Later, with two outs and runners on second and third, a wild pitch by the pitcher added one more run to make it 8-3.
Although Samsung recovered one run in the top of the eighth, in the bottom of the eighth after one out LG created a scoring chance with a walk by Kang Min-gyun and a hit by Kim Hyun-jong putting runners on first and second, and Ham Chang-geun's RBI single to right brought a run home. Kwak Min-ho drew a walk to load the bases with one out, and Kim Jeong-yul earned a walk that forced in a run. Then, with two outs and the bases loaded, Song Dae-hyun and Lee Han-rim consecutively drew bases-loaded walks to make it 12-4.
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