National left-hander ace shows hope after 'Ryu Yang Kim', 'four innings no-hit' LG left-hander shows hope
National left-hander ace shows hope after 'Ryu Yang Kim', 'four innings no-hit' LG left-hander shows hope
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LG Twins pitcher Son Joo-young has shown his expectations as a left-handed ace for the next generation of Korean national teams. In his first exhibition game, Son pitched four innings of no-hitter perfection.토토사이트
Son took the mound as a starting pitcher at an exhibition game against KT Wiz in the 2025 KBO League held at KT Wiz Park in Suwon on Sunday. He pitched 56 pitches during four innings, allowing no hit, two walks and three strikeouts. His maximum speed on the fastball was 149 kilometers.
He threw powerful fastballs (27), sharply curved cutters (15), de-timed curves (10), and folk balls (4) with stable ball control, and disallowed proper hitting of the ball. Only three pitches went to the outfield.
Son grounded out the leadoff stand to shortstop in the first inning, and walked Rojas. He struck out Heo Kyung-min with a cutter (138 kilometers) to swing and miss, and Kim Min-hyuk with a ground ball to shortstop to end the inning.
In the second inning, Oh was struck out with a cutter (139 kilometers) from the full count, and Oh Jae-il hit a fly ball to the right field. Jang garnered an out count by hitting a ground ball to the second base, and finished the inning without losing a run.
He allowed one walk in the third inning, but allowed no hits and no runs. Kang Hyun-woo, the leadoff hitter, was out with a fly ball to right field, and Kim Sang-soo struck out. He walked Bae Jeong-dae after two outs, but Rojas was out for the third time with a fly ball to third base.
In the fourth inning, Sohn grounded out Heo Kyung-min, the leadoff batter, and Kim Min-hyuk grounded out to the center field. With two outs, Oh Yoon-seok grounded out to the third base and was out. He turned the ball over to Choi Chae-heung, the bullpen in the fifth inning
Son, who was drafted by LG as the second overall pick in the second round of the 2017 draft, did not take the mound in many games until 2023 due to his military service (2019-2020) and elbow surgery (2022). In 2021, he had the most personal games and 26.2 innings.
After returning to the first team at the end of the 2023 season after rehabilitation, Son played his first full-time season as a fifth starter last year. He performed better than expected. He pitched in 28 games, recording 9 wins, 10 losses and one hold with an ERA of 3.79. He pitched 144 ⅔ innings beyond the regular innings, ranking second in ERA among native pitchers after Samsung's Won Tae-in.
Son continued his powerful pitching in the postseason and was also selected for the Premier 12 national team. However, he felt elbow pain in his last appearance in the postseason and was unable to join the national team due to minor injuries.
Coach Yeom Kyung-yeop has strongly believed that Son will grow into a left-hander ace for the Korean national team, succeeding Ryu Hyun-jin, Yang Hyun-jong and Kim Kwang-hyun since last year. He showed such promise in his first full-time season last year, and he needs to take another leap forward this season to expect the WBC national team next year.
Manager Yeom plans to strengthen Son this year. He will be the second starting pitcher in this season's starting rotation. He will rotate the starting rotation in the order of Chirinos, Son Joo-young, Hernandez, Lim Chan-kyu and Song Seung-ki. This is because he has faith in foreign pitchers as the second starting pitcher, rather than placing them as the first or second starting pitcher.
Manager Yeom even announced that if Son Joo-young grows to the next level as a starting pitcher this year, he plans to beat foreign pitchers as a starting pitcher for the opening game in the 2026 season.