(Seoul = News 1) Reporter Jae-sang Lee = The ‘defending champion’ LG Twins, who were confident of building a dynasty, were ultimately held back by bullpen anxiety and were unable to advance to the Korean Series. LG’s Eliezer Hernández’s excellent pitching in the postseason was outstanding, but the remaining bullpen pitchers were unable to use their strength and were unable to advance to the Korean Series.
LG lost 0-1 in Game 4 against the Samsung Lions of the 2024 Shinhan SOL Bank KBO Postseason Playoffs (best of 5) held at Jamsil Baseball Stadium in Seoul on the 19th.
As a result, LG was eliminated by Samsung with 1 win and 3 losses.
Looking back on the 2024 season, LG had a lot of regrets in both of its two hits.
Amidst the bad news that ace Casey Kelly was replaced by Hernández during the season, there was a lack of pitchers to lead the team on the mound. Choi Won-tae bowed his head again in the postseason, showing his weakness, and Dietrick Ens also had 13 wins (6 losses), but was unable to overwhelm his opponent.
More than anything, the bullpen’s slump was painful. LG, with Ko Woo-seok (Miami) gone, had Yoo Young-chan as closer and made 26 saves and veteran Kim Jin-seong had 27 holds, but overall stability was lacking.
With the existing bullpen resources, including Jung Woo-young, performing poorly, only Hernández was on the mound as a ‘reliable man’ in the important postseason. Even if they were ahead, the inability to calculate was a headache for coach Yeom Kyung-yeop all season.
After being eliminated in the 4th game of PO, Coach Yeom said, “This year was difficult as the middle pitchers’ growth was slow, and the postseason was the same.” He added, “I will prepare well starting from the final training to get to the top next year.”
The only harvest for the team this year is the discovery of left-hander Son Joo-young.
Son Joo-young, who wore the LG uniform in the second first round in 2017, earned a starting spot in this year’s team and pitched beyond expectations. In the regular season, he appeared in 28 games and 144⅔ innings, pitching well with 9 wins, 10 losses, and an average ERA of 3.79.
He appeared in the bullpen in the semi-playoffs and led the team to the playoffs with his brilliant pitching. As Coach Yeom said, “He is the starting pitcher who will lead the next national team,” he made expectations for next season with his decent performance.
In addition, the fighting spirit of Hernández, who appeared in all five semi-PO games, and the strong heart of local ace Lim Chan-gyu, who transformed into the fall man, also stood out on the big stage.
Coach Yeom said, “The three of us, Joo Young-i, Chan-gyu, and Hernández, worked hard in the postseason,” and added, “Thanks to them, we were able to get to this point. I want to say thank you for your hard work again.”
In terms of the batting lineup, when looking back at the entire season, first baseman Austin Dean and outfielder Hong Chang-ki did their part.
‘On-base machine’ Hong Chang-gi appeared in 139 games this year and played an active part with a batting average of 0.339, 176 hits, 5 home runs, 73 RBIs, and 96 runs. The on-base percentage was first at 0.447. Although Moon Bo-kyung was somewhat disappointing in the postseason stage, he played in all 144 games this season and established himself as the team’s main hitter with a batting average of 0.301, 22 home runs, and 101 RBIs.
Austin announced the prospect of renewing his contract next year with a batting average of 0.319, 32 home runs, 132 RBI, and 99 runs scored in 140 games this year. Austin was the first LG player to post a batting average of .300, 30 home runs, and 100 RBI.
However, LG’s batting line was silent on the most important PO stage, and they lost to Samsung with 1 win and 3 losses.
Coach Yeom said, “I said this season was a good one, but our team wasn’t. The goal was for the existing players to grow to the next level, but we couldn’t improve for a year. We had a lot of disappointment in the postseason and pennant race.” asked.
He promised, “Our team had the power to hit a ‘big ball’, but it didn’t work out as a result. We are analyzing it accurately. Now that the season is over, we will train to grow through meetings for the remaining period.”
