Lotte's trade winner a year ago? LG's faith in fireballers "will help the team"
Lotte's trade winner a year ago? LG's faith in fireballers "will help the team"
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The LG Twins are counting on fireballer Woo Kang-hoon, who moved from Lotte Giants to LG through a trade last year.바카라사이트
On March 30 last year, LG sent infielder Sohn Ho-young to Lotte in a 1:1 trade with Lotte, and acquired right-handed sidearm Woo Kang-hoon. LG, which wanted to strengthen the bullpen, and Lotte, which lacked infield resources, matched interests.
At the time, LG explained the background of recruiting Woo Kang-hoon, saying, "Woo Kang-hoon is a sidearm-type pitcher with fast fastball speed and good breaking ball movement.
Born in 2002, Woo joined Lotte as the 41st in the second round of the fifth round, and had only played in six games in the first division before moving to LG. He spent much of his time in the Futures League (second division). Last year, he recorded one win and an ERA of 3.09 in 11 ⅔ innings in 14 games including his time at the Lotte Giants.
While Woo Kang-hoon focused his efforts on reorganizing, Son Ho-young provided an opportunity for a turnaround by trading. During the 2024 season, he clearly impressed by his performance of 126 hits in 102 games and 398 times at bat with a batting average of 0.317 18 homers, 78 RBIs, and 0.538 slugging percentage. With Son Ho-young's appearance, the team relieved some of its infield worries, and was able to prepare for the new season in a more stable situation for the player.
Naturally, some would say that Lotte won the trade deal a year ago. However, Woo and LG dream of a reversal.
Woo has shown growth through this year's spring camp, and is maintaining this trend until exhibition games. In the game against the Suwon KT Wiz on Sunday, his first exhibition game, he was shaken by one hit, two outs and four runs (two earned) but pitched scoreless innings in his two relief appearances.
Ahead of an away game against the Samsung Lions in the 2025 Shinhan SOL Bank KBO League exhibition game held at Samsung Lions Park in Daegu on Sunday, LG manager Yeom Kyung-yeop praised Woo by saying, "His speed was up to 152 km/h in the match against the Lotte Giants in Sajik. That was when (Woo) Kang-hoon was good."
"I think Kang Hoon will be of great help to the team in the second half after gaining experience in a comfortable situation in the first half of the season. We are working hard with coach Kim Kwang-sam," he said. "What I'm looking forward to most now is leading the season with six (bulpens pitchers) with three winning teams, Woo Kang-hoon, Baek Seung-hyun and Park Myung-geun."
Woo met the coach's expectations in the game as well. When the two teams were tying 3-3 at the bottom of the sixth inning with one out, he pitched a strikeout to Park Byung-ho and induced Kang Min-ho to ground out to the shortstop, setting a good inning. The maximum speed was measured at 150 kilometers per hour. Winning or losing is not important in an exhibition game, but Woo has elevated expectations to a maximum extent by earning a victory in relief.