“Choi’s position will be decided in the spring camp.”
The LG Twins’ choice was Choi Chae-heung (29).
The LG Twins announced on the 13th that they appointed left-handed pitcher Choi Chae-heung (29) as compensation for Choi Won-tae, a free agent who transferred to the Samsung Lions. As expected, the team reinforced the mound.
Choi Won-tae was in FAA grade, so there were only 20 protected players that Samsung could tie. When Choi’s transfer was confirmed, there was a lot of noise for a while over whether Oh Seung-hwan (Samsung) would be included in the protected player list. Besides Oh Seung-hwan, several veteran names were mentioned as candidates for compensation. That’s how much baseball fans paid attention to LG’s choice. After receiving the list of protected players from Samsung on the 10th, LG did not immediately select a veteran in his 30s, who has a sense of power. It selected Choi Chae-heung, predicting both the current utilization and future potential. 안전놀이터
“Choi received the most votes at a meeting of the team, the power analysis team, and the coaches,” Yeom said in a telephone interview with the newspaper. “He was popular.” A total of three players were nominated as compensation players through the meeting, and Choi reportedly got the most votes. Lee Byung-kyu, former head coach of Samsung’s first team and second team coach between 2023 and 2024, also contributed to this opinion.
Choi, who received the first nomination from Samsung in 2018, is a left-handed pitcher who recorded 27 wins, 29 losses and five holds average ERA of 4.59 in 117 games in his professional career. He achieved a career high in 2020 with 11 wins, 6 losses and ERA of 3.58. He has also completed his mandatory military service. “Choi is a player with full potential,” the LG team said. “I expect that he will be able to take charge of a starting position as a young player if he regains his form in 2020, when he garnered 11 wins as a starting pitcher.”
However, chances are high that Choi will play as a bullpen pitcher next year. “We currently lack a left-handed bullpen,” manager Yeom Kyung-yeop said. The left-handed bullpen Ham Deok-ju will not be able to return until the second half of next year after undergoing elbow surgery. Kim Yoo-young and Lee Woo-chan have ups and downs. Considering the team’s circumstances, Choi hinted that Choi will deploy the bullpen next season. In addition, Choi recorded an ERA of 5 wins and 5 holds 4.15 in 37 games he pitched as a relief pitcher, showing better performance than his starting (80 games, 22 wins and 29 losses, ERA 4.66).
The LG Twins already confirmed four starting positions including Yonny Chirinos, Elijah Hernandez, Lim Chan-kyu and Son Ju-young. “We will give younger players a chance to start in the first five games next year. I think that will be good for our team in the long run,” manager Yeom Kyung-yeop said. Among the five starting candidates are Lee Ji-gang (25), Song Seung-ki (22), and Woo Kang-hoon (22).
However, this does not mean that manager Yeom Kyung-yeop is not considering Choi Chae-heung’s starting position. “Choi’s position will be decided by the camp,” he added.
