With a bright smile, he revealed his goal. Son Joo-young, a left-hander of the LG Twins in professional baseball, mentioned his bold target figure ahead of the second full-time season.

Last year, Son made his presence known at LG's mound as the fifth starter. Son, who joined LG as the second pick in the second round of the 2017 draft, had little experience in the first division until 2023. He pitched seven games (26.2 innings) in 2021, the most of which was his business trip. He started the season as the fifth starter in 2022, but after three games, he underwent surgery due to an elbow injury, and returned in late 2023 to take the mound in three games.  카지노사이트

He instantly grew into one of the best starters in the league last year. He displayed robust performance with nine wins, 10 losses and one hold and an earned run average of 3.79 in 28 games (144 ⅔ innings). It was a huge success in his first full-time season. Notably, his earned run average (ERA) was second only to Samsung's Won Tae-in (15-6, 3.66 ERA) among native pitchers in the league that met the required innings. 

He displayed good performance in the season and also displayed stellar performance in the post season. At the semi-playoff games with KT (seven ⅓ innings), he displayed perfect pitching by posting two hits, 11 strikeouts and no runs, and one win and one hold. He displayed poor elbow conditions in two games with Samsung (six innings), six hits, seven strikeouts and five runs (four earned runs), two losses and an earned run average of 6.00. 

He recorded the highest increase rate in his team when renewing his contract. He renewed his contract for 172 million won, up a whopping 129 million won (300 percent increase rate) from 43 million won (300 percent) last year. 

While reinforcing the bullpen was the top priority in the free agent market last winter, LG did not actively pursue free agent starting pitcher Choi Won-tae. Choi left the club with a four-year, maximum contract of 7 billion won (approx. Son Joo-young believed in his powerful 150-km fastball, which was 191 centimeters tall as a left-hander. LG decided to use Son Joo-young and Lim Chan-kyu as the third and fourth starters, while the fifth starter will be filled with promising players. 

Son Joo-young is expected to grow into a left-hander for the national team as well as a next-generation native ace of LG. Son was selected for the Premier 12 national team last year, but was unfortunately excluded from the national team due to an elbow injury in the postseason. 

Due to enough rest for more than two months during the off-season, the left elbow flexor and ileocecal muscles have been completely healed. "I'm 100 percent fully recovered now, and I'm going to the U.S. after getting ready to pitch early," Son said with a smile. 

Son Ju-young said, "I felt confident as I enjoyed the second half of the season and the post season as well. I feel that I will be able to do well from the beginning this year. If I am in good physical condition, I am confident. I started to use folk balls in the second half of this year, but I think I will use them more from the first half of this year. My goal is to improve the quality of curves, sliders, and cutters so that I can throw them perfectly freely." 

When asked how many goals he has set for this season, he answered without hesitation. "From 28 to 30 games as a starter, I set an innings rate of 160 or more, and I set an average of 15 wins," Son said. "I usually set specific goals. At first, I thought of 70 innings last year, but after throwing the first game, I changed it. I thought I could throw 120 innings." 

A total of 15 wins and 160 innings is the best for Korean players. Ryu Hyun-jin (Hanwha) and Kim Kwang-hyun (SSG) said on their YouTube channel that they do not seem to have any left-handed pitchers right now. "I feel like I need to impress my seniors with an overwhelming performance," Son said, displaying confidence. 

LG expects bullpen pitcher Ham Deok-ju in the off-season and Yoo Young-chan, who played the closing role last year, to join in the second half of the year after undergoing surgery to remove elbow bone fragments. Although the bullpen was reinforced by recruiting FA pitchers Jang Hyun-sik and Kim Kang-ryul, the starting pitchers' innings are important considering the bullpen that suddenly weakened last year. Since the fifth starter is unknown, the responsibility of the two starters is heavy. 

Son Joo-young said, "I have to rotate the rotation without injury. Since (Choi) Won Tae-hyung is out, I and (Lim) Chan-kyu will have to keep throwing without injury to maintain the rotation. My biggest goal is to throw without injury." "I think I have to go up to at least six innings. I think I have to throw nearly six innings on average. You shouldn't come down after five innings," he said. "If I pitched five to six innings before, now I have to think about six to seven innings," he added.