“Choi Hyun-suk and Choi Soo-ho, who were at the camp, will take the mound at a practice game for the Futures League tomorrow,” Futures manager Son Si-heon of SSG said in an interview at the Futures Spring Camp held at Nanhua University Baseball Stadium in Jai county, Taiwan on Wednesday. Choi is the best pitcher this year. I really wanted to show him to the team. Choi is the type of sharp thrower. I recommended him because he is a sidearm type pitcher whose ball is messy and our team does not have many players.”
The SSG first-tier team will play its first practice game against the Taiwanese professional baseball team Tungyi Lions at Tainan Baseball Stadium in Taiwan on the 27th. In the first practice game, players who need to be checked by Lee Sung-yong will be the main players rather than the main players. Choi Hyun-suk will be the starting pitcher and Choi Su-ho will be the reliever.
Choi Hyun-suk is a college graduate right-handed pitcher who joined SSG through the fourth round (40th pick) of the 2024 rookie draft. He graduated from Dongsan High School and Pusan National University of Science and Technology, and although his ball speed is in the mid-140km/h range, he is good at controlling fastballs, two-seams, curves, sliders, and changeups. “He is a pitcher who throws a curve ball and pulls it out with a ball. He takes away the timing of batters well,” manager Son Si-heon said in positive comments.
Choi joined the team through the third round (26th pick) in the second round of the 2019 rookie draft. He is a sidearm pitcher in his sixth year as a professional player this year. He has no record of playing in the first division games yet, and posted an earned run average of 5.86 with two wins and two losses and two saves in 36 games (35 ⅓ innings) in the Futures League. Although he consistently performed well in the Futures League, he was disappointed that he performed poorly in 10 games (seven ⅔ innings) last year with one loss and one hold earned run average of 18.78.
Ryu Taek-hyun, the Futures pitching coach, said, “Choi Hyun-suk and Choi Su-ho will play about five innings tomorrow. Choi will likely pitch three innings as the starting pitcher, and Choi will pitch two innings. However, since it is not the season yet, we will put some restrictions on pitching to some extent.”
When Choi and Choi were told that they had to throw a combined five innings at a practice game on Thursday, Choi said, “I was told that we were going to play in a practice game tomorrow. I didn’t know we had to throw five innings,” expressing surprise. In the meantime, Choi pledged to impress Coach Lee at his first practice game in the Korean Professional Baseball League.
Choi said, “In the Taiwan camp, I flew up to 145 kilometers. I mainly throw fastballs, curves, sliders and changeups. I throw two-seams as well, but now I want to master changeups rather than two-seams, so I throw a lot. Curve is the type of pitch I am most confident in. I will use it in various situations in tomorrow’s game as the ball has big changes. I have thrown curves since I was a middle school student, and I have become a solid pitch player who can freely throw balls with my knuckle-curve grip.”
Choi said, “I threw up to 145 kilometers last year. Originally, the ball flew up to 147 kilometers, but my balance was not very good last year. Still, as my balance is maintained this year, my speed is fast increasing. I already spent 144 kilometers in Taiwan camp. I think I can go further.”
BY: 토토사이트