“Now that I have my first win, I want to get better and go to the (Hangzhou) Asian Games this year.”
Choi Seung-yong (22, Doosan Bears) made his fourth start of the season against kt Wiz in the ‘2023 Shinhan Bank SOL KBO League’ held at Jamsil Stadium on the 22nd.
In his first appearance of the season (against Jamsil NC Dinos on the 5th), Choi Seung-yong collapsed greatly with 10 hits (1 home run), 2 walks, 2 strikeouts and 8 runs in 1⅔ innings. Since then, it has been getting more and more stable.
On this day, Choi Seung-yong showed off a clean pitch in the early part of the game. He was hit by the lead batter in the 1st and 2nd innings and put out a runner, but blocked the follow-up batter and did not allow a run. In the middle of the game, in the beginning of the 4th inning, he was safe with 1st and 2nd bases, and in the top of the 5th inning, he faced a crisis with 2 outs and loaded bases, but he caught an out count himself and continued pitching scoreless.
The final score was 5 innings, 6 hits, 1 walk, 4 strikeouts, no run. He contributed to the team’s 5-1 victory and won its first win of the season. The four-seam fastball (52 pitches) reached up to 147 km, and the slider (22 pitches), curveball (13 pitches), and splitter (6 pitches) were in good harmony.
Choi Seung-yong, who we met after the game, smiled at his first win of the season. “Since the first start of the season was not good, I talked a lot with his coaches and older brothers and changed his pitching form a lot. There is a fight with a batter in bowling, but I think I got good results by following what senior (Yang) Eui-ji told me to do. He followed without shaking his head once.”
He continued, “I thought not to concede because the batter brothers scored with difficulty against the opponent’s ace. Even if I couldn’t complete the 5th inning, I thought about it and threw it from the 4th in order not to give points.”
On this day, all players except for the first and second hitters Kim Min-hyuk and Kang Baek-ho were right-handed hitters. The situation could have been a difficult fight for left-handed pitcher Choi Seung-yong. Choi Seung-yong is overcoming it bit by bit by throwing a splitter rather than a changeup. “Right now I throw a splitter rather than a changeup. The splitter pitch seems to be to some extent, and I think it might be a good idea to refine it a bit more and make the angle bigger so that I can strike out.” 스포츠토토
Choi Seung-yong, who recorded his first victory of the season, said he would continue to follow the trend. “It seems that pitching is getting better and better. (First win of the season) I will do my best to improve further. Now that I have my first win, I want to get better and go to the Asian Games this year.” Also, I want to go with (Ahn) Jae-seok, who was my motive for joining the team.”