Will Lee “Post Yang Hyun-jong” Lee Yi-ri (KIA Tigers) be the biggest beneficiary of robotic umpiring?
Lee started the third game of the 2024 Shinhan SOL Bank KBO League against KT Wiz at KT Wiz Park in Suwon, South Korea, on April 4 and pitched five innings of six hits (one home run), two walks, seven strikeouts, and two runs for his first win of the season. It was a 6-3 win for the team and his third consecutive complete game.
After the game, Lee said, “I was just trying to stay as steady as I could on the mound. I’m happy with the way the game turned out,” Lee said after the game.
“There’s an image that I have a lot of ups and downs, but I tried not to think about it as much as possible,” he said. “My pitches were good today. I had five strikeouts in my last start, but I think the hitters were able to handle it. I feel good that I had a lot of pitches in the zone today. 바카라사이트 Even if you give up a walk, you just have to hope for a good result with the next batter,” he added.
Lee, the Kia’s first-round pick in 2021
Won 10 games in back-to-back seasons in 2022 and 2023 and was recognized as the top left-hander to succeed Yang Hyun-jong, but he has always struggled with his pitches. He was prone to so-called “fly balls,” which would often be called ambiguously in the strike zone.
But this day was different. The ABS (Automatic Pitch Recognition System) called Irie’s high-course pitches for strikes. The most eye-catching moment came in the second inning with the score 3-1 and two outs. Jang Jang-woo stepped up to the plate and hit a curveball high and away from 1B-2S, but it was a strikeout to end the inning. Jang was devastated, and Lee walked to the dugout with a shrug on his face. The strike call was unexpected, even for Lee.
“I’ve been getting a lot of high stuff this year, so I’ve been trying to throw a lot of pitches that way. I think that strategy worked well today. I’m also trying to increase my changeup rate, and it coincided with the ABS, so I used it a lot because it’s a high curveball,” Lee said.
However, Lee wasn’t always happy with the ABS system. “I think it’s going to help pitchers like me who are good at throwing strikes, and I think it’s going to hurt pitchers who are good at throwing strikes. I like it when I throw strikes, and I like it when the umpire calls it near the strike zone. It’s 50/50,” he said, adding, “Hitters can’t feel safe if they think it’s a ball. It’s still early in the season. I think the first half of the season will be clearer when I throw it,” he explained.
Lee had a particularly tough time against KT’s No. 4 hitter, Kang Baek-ho.
After a double in the second inning, he hit a solo home run in the third and an infield single in the fifth.
“I thought (Kang) was taking a long swing, 안전 토토사이트 and I thought I threw the ball too openly in my first at-bat. Afterward, (Kim) Do-young and I talked about how he was looking up and hitting it, and in my second at-bat, I threw it right on course. I could have gotten the next one, but I left it to the guys, and it was a good pitch,” he reflected.
After giving up two runs in four innings (unearned) in his first start, Lee pitched five innings of two-run ball today. “My pitching coach told me that I shouldn’t let go because it’s the first inning of the week. I want to keep throwing long pitches,” he said.