Hanwha pitcher Lee Tae-yang, 33, is a rare example of a player who left in a trade and returned to his hometown team as a free agent. He made a comeback by signing a four-year, 2.5 billion won free agent contract with Hanwha, despite teams offering better deals. On the day of his signing, Lee said, “The team brought me back for a reason. I will prepare for the team’s situation rather than greed for my own position. I’ve been paid, so I have to do what I’m told,” he laughed.
After helping SSG win the overall title last year as an all-weather pitcher, Lee has been tasked with the same job at Hanwha. At the end of the first half of the season, Lee is living up to her promise. In 43 innings pitched in 31 games, he has a 1-2 record with a 2.30 ERA and 36 strikeouts. His 1.14 WAR ranks 30th in the league and seventh among relievers, according to the KBO’s official Sports2eye.
With only one foreign pitcher for the first month of the season and a weak rotation of four or five starters, it would have been difficult for Hanwha to get the ball rolling without Lee. He appeared in two games as a substitute starter and took the mound whenever the team needed him, regardless of the score or time of day. He also has five multi-inning relief appearances of two or more innings. Not including his 5⅔ innings of starts, he has logged 37⅓ innings, the most of any bullpen on the team.토토사이트
“I think pitching is my strong suit, regardless of the position, and I came back to Hanwha as a free agent after being recognized for playing baseball like that. There is nothing too difficult as I have prepared for it to a certain extent. “I threw a lot of innings, but the coaching staff managed it well. I’ve only pitched one long game. Recently, they cut it down to one inning, so it’s not too much for me.” The only back-to-back starts were against KT in Suwon on April 15-16, and he has pitched just one inning in all of his last seven games.
Along with Chae Eun-sung, who leads the batting order, the free agent model student has been a key part of Hanwha’s rebound. “I don’t think it’s because of me and Eun Sung-hyung, but I think it’s time for the young players to shine after all the hard times they’ve been through. It’s time to do well. We’re not trying to keep playing baseball,” he said, praising the juniors for enduring a difficult rebuilding period that saw them finish 10th for the past three years.
As a pitching coach, he also had a lot of “nagging” to do with the juniors. “I don’t know how others would look at it, but I think my view of baseball has been broadened by winning a championship. As I’ve gotten older, I’ve experienced both good and bad things.” “There are younger players who don’t have a routine yet. I tell them to develop good habits before they have a routine. “I tell them to develop good habits before they have a routine. It’s hard to work out on a hot day like today. You don’t get better right away, but if you go in with a different mindset, small changes can make a big difference.”
Lee’s sincerity has not only reached the first team, but also the Futures, who are struggling in the second team. “I’m not copying (Choi) Jae-hoon,” said Lee, who shot coffee tea in Seosan last month, before adding, “When it gets hot, the Futures have the hardest time. It’s not a big deal, but I sent it to cheer him up, and he thanked me,” he said with an embarrassed smile.
Lee Tae-yang, who was a key bullpen pitcher when Hanwha broke the 10-year darkness in 2018 and entered the fall baseball season, said, “Everything has to go right for me to perform well. “We have a good team atmosphere and flow right now, but we don’t know what the second half will be like. There will be bad times, but the most important thing is to be steady and not get down. Personally, I’m not happy with where we are. You have to be greedy until the day you stop playing baseball. That’s how you get better,” he said, adding that both the team and individuals are not satisfied with where they are and want to go further.