Samsung Younggun Choi Choong-yeon (26) threw about 3,000 pitches in the last spring camp.
The promised number of bullpen pitches is 1,000. I threw more than that, and when I added catch balls and practice pitches, that number increased to 3,000.
At the end of the spring camp, Samsung coach Park Jin-man gave Choong-yeon Choi the MVP award as a pitcher.
The reason Choong-yeon Choi was selected as the MVP was that she performed well in the old-fashioned training method of throwing a lot of balls and improving control and pitching at the spring camp.
Choi Choong-yeon’s pitching of 3,000 pitches is something Korean baseball must think about.
3,000 pitches for spring camp is a training method that was popular during the days of former coach Seon Dong-yeol.
Coach Sun asked the pitchers for more pitches and the number reached 3,000.
At that time, Samsung was called the pitcher kingdom. A lot of good pitchers were produced, and the development of the players took place at the center.
It was also around that time that Oh Seung-hwan was born.
However, from some time ago, an atmosphere was created where people were reluctant to train for a large number of pitches. The ghost of ‘hogsa’ began to dominate Korean baseball.
All the coaches were concerned with reducing the number of pitches. In the process, I tried hard to close my eyes and pretend not to know that my progress was slow.
The era has come when coaches who manage well are treated as great coaches.
Leaders who insist on lower body training (running) and high number of pitches have become ‘old fashion’. No team has ever practiced hard-hitting pitchers.
Pitchers were seen only as objects of protection.
Even in spring camp, the number of pitches is adjusted to a minimum, and the number of pitches is thoroughly managed even after entering the season.
Due to the management of the number of pitches, it is common practice to close your eyes and move on even if you find something lacking in your practice pitches. No one wants to be called overworked.
The reason why we were able to achieve good results in the 1st and 2nd World Baseball Classic (WBC) was also because the pitchers threw a lot of balls in the spring camp and played the tournament after warm-up.
It was different this time. Since there were not many practice pitches, the pace did not come up easily. A good example is that Jung Woo-young, whose main weapon was a ball over 150 km, struggled with a ball over 140 km.
Now is the time for change again. This WBC showed that Korean baseball is trapped in a well.
It was proved in this tournament that it is difficult to follow world-class baseball in the current way.
It can be said that there is no single answer. However, true effort always produces results.
At this WBC, it was confirmed that the growth of young players in Korean baseball is very slow. I could only feel that I was still at the level of relying on Kim Gwang-hyun and Yang Hyeon-jong.
It was an opportunity to bring out the intensive pitching training that had been put in the corner with old fashion. We need to get out of the habit of hiding behind the plausible word ‘protection’ and closing our eyes to what we lack. 바카라
Choi Chung-yeon may fail again. But the more you do it, the more you have to challenge and bump into it. This WBC is a tournament that clearly realized that the current method does not work anymore.
Even if Choi Choong-yeon fails, he must face it again and prepare. You shouldn’t forget that really big things can happen if you just spend time like this.