LG Twins’ Im Chan-kyu provided solid after-sales service to his student. The student, who took a refresher course, achieved satisfactory results in practice and expressed his gratitude over the phone.
Im Chan-kyu revealed that he provided after-sales service on curveballs to “starting rookie” Lee Jung-yong. In an interview with reporters on the 17th, Lim Chan-kyu revealed a recent anecdote about teaching Lee Jung-yong a curveball.
Lee moved from the bullpen to the starting rotation late in the first half. Lee, who had been pitching in the bullpen since his debut, was planning to pitch as a starter after joining the team next year, but the team didn’t have a fifth starter, so LG manager Yeom Kyung-yeop and the coaching staff decided to give Lee an early start. Lee made his first start against the Lotte Giants on May 25, and before his second start against KIA on May 2, he said he learned a curveball from Im Chan-kyu.
However, the curveballs he learned from Im didn’t come in handy in practice.
However, during the All-Star break, he received a curveball from Lee Jung-yong himself and realized the problem and immediately went to the after-sales service.
“Yesterday (the 16th) was my day off, but I played catch with Lee Jung-yong, and I knew the cause after receiving the curveball myself,” he said. “The speed of the ball and the turnover rate were not the same. Because the ball was coming fast, it arrived before the curve had finished rotating, resulting in a small fall.
“It was almost a non-curve ball,” said Lim. It was a ridiculous ball, a basic curve,” he said, adding, “If you get a big hit with that ball, it’s not because the ball is good, it’s because the hitter didn’t hit it.” He said that the curve was not skillful.
He immediately started working on it, and it worked. “I made a modification and threw the ball slower, and the ball dropped from 12 to 6 o’clock,” Lim said.
“I also had a lot of trial and error with my curveball in practice. It would slip out of my hand and hit the batter,” he said, adding, “I also told (Lee) Jung Yong-i that mistakes could happen.”
The practice paid off in practice. In a scrimmage against the Doosan Bears at LG Champions Park in Icheon on Sunday morning, Jeong threw five innings of scoreless baseball with four hits, one walk and six strikeouts, throwing 71 pitches in five innings. He touched 145 mph on his fastball and looked solid. He threw his curveball and was pleased with the results. 토토사이트
“After the game, Jung Yong-i called me to thank me,” Lim said. At first, it didn’t go well, but I kept throwing it, and he said it was good,” he said, smiling with satisfaction.
Last year, Lim taught Kim Yun-sik a changeup, which helped him become an ace in the second half. A pitcher who works hard and studies makes a good teacher.
Lee will make his first start of the second half against the SSG Landers in Jamsil on the 23rd. We’ll get to see his revamped curveball again.