“I want to make good use of the opportunity.” Lee Seung-yeop, head coach of Doosan Bears, said this about Lee Won-jae, who was predicted to be the starting pitcher for the Kiwoom Heroes away game held at Gocheok Sky Dome on the 17th.
Lee Won-jae is a lefty who graduated from Gyeongnam High School. He was nominated by Doosan in the 2022 rookie draft with the 19th pick in the second round of the second round.
On the 17th, he started against Kiwoom and made his first-team debut at the same time. Director Lee said at a meeting with the reporters who visited the scene the day before (16th), “The performance in Futures (2nd division) was not noticeably good, but it has recently received good reviews.”
There is a background for calling Lee Won-jae. This is because of Dylan Pyle (pitcher, registered name Dylan), who missed the first team entry due to a sprained right elbow.
In addition, Doosan is in a situation where even Kwak Bin is out of power due to an injury. As a result, there is a vacancy in the starting rotation. This is the reason coach Lee called Lee Won-jae to the first team in the Futures League.
Director Lee added, “It’s a crisis (the absence of Kwak Bin and Dylan), but it can be an opportunity (for Lee Won-jae),” adding, “I hope you throw well.” Lee Won-jae had a good start that day.
At the beginning of the first inning, the Doosan line-up scored 4 points against Kiwoom starting pitcher Jeong Chan-heon and took a 4-0 lead. Lee Won-jae lightened his shoulders.스포츠토토
Lee Won-jae also gave up a walk to leadoff Lee Jung-hoo at the bottom of the first inning, but handled the follow-up hitter well. He finished the bottom of the first inning with a ground ball to Lim Ji-yeol, a foul fly to Kim Hye-sung and Edison Russell to third base, and a fly ball to right field.
However, the second time was a problem. In the bottom of the second inning, he was shaken after allowing the first hit of the day to lead hitter Park Chan-hyeok with a double. Lee Won-jae gave up walks and hits to Kim Hwi-jip and Lee Won-seok, and was driven to the bases safely.
He allowed a timely hit to Lee Hyeong-jong and a push walk to Lee Ji-young, conceding consecutive runs. Then, the Doosan bench did not wait any longer.
Lee Jung-hoo took out a replacement card from the plate. Lee Won-jae was replaced by second pitcher Kim Myung-shin and finished the mound that day. The number of runs and self-accusation increased by one more. Kim Myung-shin gave away a sacrifice fly to center fielder to Lee Jung-hoo, and Lee Won-jae sent runner Lee Won-seok home.
Lee Won-jae finished his first team debut with a record of 34 pitches, 3 hits and 3 runs in 1 inning. Kim Myung-shin did not concede an extra point. Ji-yeol Lim struck out and Hye-seong Kim was induced with a floating ball to center fielder to end the inning.
Chased by one point, Doosan ran away again in the top of the third inning. Kim Jae-hwan fired two runs (Season 3), widening the score to 6-3.