Lee Ho-seong, a right-hander in his second year at Samsung, successfully completed his first appearance at the Okinawa spring camp by allowing three hits, two walks, one strikeout and one run in two innings. Naoyuki Shimizu, a former pitcher with a total of 105 wins in Japanese pro baseball who explained the game, highly appreciated Lee’s ability.
“He throws tall and powerful fastballs”. “He also throws big curves”. “He seems to have faith in his pitches as he actively throws fastballs”.
He played with Doosan Bears coach Lee Seung-yeop in 2004 and 2005 for Chiba Lotte and played for the WBC Japanese national team in 2006, and made the remarks about Lee Ho-sung.
Samsung lost 0-8 to Chiba Lotte, but Lee Ho-sung’s good pitching was an income amid the defeat.
Lee Ho-sung said, “It’s not a satisfactory level today, but I think the command and location went well for the first game,” adding, “I’ll do my best to show you a better performance than today’s game in the next game.”
“During the off-season, I focused on weight training, treatment of injured areas, and reinforcement training. Unlike rookie seasons, this year is a season that we have to show off for sure,” he added.
He also said, “It is more important to go into the season and show a steady performance than to overdo it now,” adding, “I will prepare well to show you a certain performance while maintaining a healthy appearance.”
After graduating from Incheon High School, he was drafted by Samsung in the first round last year, and garnered one win (2.65 ERA) by taking the mound five times in the first year of his debut. On Oct. 6, he reported his first win since his debut by allowing four hits (one homer) and four walks, six strikeouts and one run in five innings against Suwon KT. He was on the verge of loading the bases with two outs by giving up three walks in the first inning, but his scene where he struck out Moon Sang-cheol with three pitches was overwhelming.
Coach Park Jin-man said, “Although he is young, he has good ability to manage games. He has good pitching power, so if he has more experience, he can become a starting pitcher.” He noted Lee Ho-sung’s growth potential.
Lee Ho-sung, who feels joy in increasing the out count by playing a long inning, aims to play one of the pillars of Samsung’s starting lineup like Won Tae-in, the “blue blood ace.” “If Lee Seung-hyun and Lee Ho-sung grow up in a good-faith competition with existing starting agents, wouldn’t they be able to perform tremendously?” said Lee Jong-yeol, the general manager. “If the two players take over as starters, it is the best scenario.”
Can Lee Ho-sung, who started the first real stage of the Okinawa spring camp refreshingly, be the new face of the starters.