Samsung Lions right-handed pitcher Choi Ji-kwang (25) joined the team after being discharged from the Armed Forces Sports Unit (Sangmu) on the 12th of last month and is playing the 2023 season. After graduating from Busan High School, Choi Ji-kwang joined Samsung in the 9th place in the 2nd 1st round of 2017. Choi Ji-kwang stood out on the first team stage from the 2019 season, the third year of his first team debut.
In 63 games in the 2019 season, he recorded 3 wins, 8 losses, 2 saves and 10 holds, and an average ERA of 4.10, earning his first double-digit hold since his debut. He recorded an average ERA of 4.87 in 51 matches in the 2020 season, 1 win, 3 losses, and 15 holds, and an average ERA of 4.91 in 60 matches, 7 wins, 1 loss, and 14 holds in the 2021 season. Before going to Sangmu, he recorded 11 wins, 14 losses, 2 saves, 39 holds, and an average ERA of 5.11 in 191 first-team careers.
This season, he is adapting to the first team stage again. He had a 5.63 ERA with 1 hold after 9 games. It may be disappointing if you only look at the average ERA, but Samsung coach Park Jin-man acknowledged that Ji-kwang Choi’s restraint is on the rise and expected Choi Ji-kwang to improve in the future. Choi Ji-kwang, whom I met recently, said, “When I joined the team after being discharged, it was unfamiliar to me because most of them were young players. Certainly, he was not on the team for a year and a half, so it felt like he was traded to another team.”
He continued, “The reason I was bad in the beginning wasn’t because I wasn’t feeling well. I had the same mindset, but one part didn’t fit. In terms of balance, it felt like his upper and lower body were playing separately. He looked back at the beginning of his comeback, saying, “I can’t even control it. But now, his speed has recovered to the latter half of the 140km range, and on the 22nd, he recorded his first hold after his return, riding the updraft. Choi Ji-kwang said, “I kept discussing with the pitching coaches and focused on the balance. It’s getting better as I do it,” he said. “I’m not greedy for restraint. I just want to keep it like this. It doesn’t have to get worse,” he laughed.
When I was in Sangmu, the team’s performance was not good. Last season, they fell to 13 consecutive losses and stayed in 7th place, and this season, they are struggling at the bottom. Choi Ji-kwang said, “Even in the unit, I continued to watch baseball. I don’t know about the fielder’s side, but what should I say about the pitcher’s side? What should be caught becomes a hit, and luck didn’t follow from the beginning. I felt bad because my grades were not good. I was looking at it with regret,” he said. After going to Sangmu, he said he had a mindset to play baseball better.
“My mindset has completely changed,” he said. If I had to give an excuse, when I was young, I could have thought, ‘I can go to the military and come back and do it again’, but there’s no such thing anymore. He has to do as much as he can,” he said forcefully. From the age of 20 to 24, I only played for Samsung. 토토사이트 After staying at Samsung, I went to Sangmu and met other managers, coaches, and players, so I learned something new. It seems that I have a field of view that allows me to look in a different direction. It helped me a lot. Also, during the time when I could use my cell phone, I tried to get used to it by looking for videos of pitching forms that I liked before.”
Finally, Choi Ji-kwang said, “I hope it doesn’t hurt. I want to be of some help to the team in the first team until the end of the season,” he said. “I have never won a championship since I was born. I finished second in the season before enlisting in the army, and it was too bad that I was given the championship cup in a tiebreaker. I really want to win once.”