As expected, the KIA put Yoon Young-cheol, a top rookie, on the Arizona Tucson spring camp roster. Among the rookies in 2023, he is the only one preparing for the season at the first team camp. It may not mean much. During camp, the 1st and 2nd group member switch can happen at any time. It is rare for a player to join the 1st team at the 2nd team camp and become a starting player, but it happens often.
Even so, Yoon Young-cheol’s joining the 1st team’s spring camp ‘Alone’ is significant. This is because it means that KIA immediately looks at Yoon Young-chul with a sense of power. He was the No. 1 left-hander in high school in 2022, and was a pitcher selected in the first round of the rookie draft.
Yun Young-chul received great attention in the national competition as the ace of Chungam High School in the 2022 season. His game-management skills and sharp commands, which were not typical of his high school players, were unusual. For example, the appearance of using a high-fastball freely, dispersing the attention of hitters, and then inducing a swing with a breaking ball was as good as many professional first-team pitchers.
He even showed a relaxed smile on the mound after cooking legendary hitters who had gone through a pre-season battle in the JTBC entertainment program 바카라 Strongest Baseball and KBO League. It is pointed out that his physique does not stand out and his ball speed needs to increase, but it is just a matter of needing time anyway. This is something that can be solved by training systematically in the pros.
Yoon Young-cheol is poised to compete with seniors such as Lim Ki-young and Kim Ki-hoon for the 5th starting pitcher. It is right for him to play as a starter rather than a midfielder. If he does not make the 5th starter, he can play a role as a licorice on the KIA mound as the swingman that Yoon Joong-hyun took over last year.
KIA has already made full preparations, such as not inviting Yoon Young-chul to the Jeju Island finishing camp in the fall and letting him rest. Last year, I threw a lot of balls, including the youth national team, so it was a decision made in terms of player protection. Arizona has created an environment where he can display his skills with a fresh body.
KIA is a team that benefited a lot from the first nomination. In fact, recently, the first nominees are settling into the first group one after another and revealing the future. In 2020, Jung Hae-young established himself as a closer that changed the history of the Tigers, and in 2021, Eui-ri Lee broke the 10-win mark two years after his debut and is on the verge of experiencing both the Olympics and the WBC. He is the ace of the next generation, and now he has become a ‘firm man’ who has firmly secured his place in the starting lineup. In 2022, Kim Do-young has also been established as a backup since his rookie days, and it is evaluated that it is only a matter of time before he takes the starting position. It was different from the cotyledon, and it is growing step by step according to KIA’s plan. In 2019, Kim Ki-hoon also has the potential to become the core of the first-team mound this season.
Although the first nomination was abolished, KIA is showing signs of building a left-handed kingdom by catching Yoon Young-cheol, a national express trainee. The lid opens in Arizona. We will mobilize all the capabilities necessary for the growth of Yoon Young-chul, and we will wait with all possibilities open. There is a possibility that the time it takes for the left-handed young-gun trio of Kim Ki-hoon, Lee Eui-ri, and Yoon Young-cheol to become the core of the starting lineup is also linked to the KIA’s presidential challenge.