“It was actually a mistake driven to the middle.”
Left-hander Yoon Young-cheol, the second overall nominated rookie of the KIA Tigers, was famous even before joining the team. In addition to his good performance at the World Youth Baseball Championship, he played against the strongest monsters as a member of Chungam High School and the youth national team in the popular baseball entertainment program ‘Strongest Baseball’. Yoon Young-cheol, who had pitched stably at the World Championships, pitched unwaveringly in the ‘strongest baseball’, an environment different from normal due to filming equipment, even at the same baseball field. Although he is a young player, it can be seen that he has the skills to pitch his own.
The best scene Yoon Young-cheol made in ‘Strongest Baseball’ was the match against coach Lee Seung-yeop, the ‘Legend of Legend’메이저놀이터, at Gocheok Dome. Yoon Young-chul, who played as a member of the youth national team at the time, met coach Lee as a pinch hitter at the bottom of the 9th inning, leading 6-3, with 2 out and 1st and 2nd base. When national team coach Choi Jae-ho saw that Lee was in the waiting at-bat, he deliberately gave 4 pitches to Jeong Seong-hoon, who was in the at-bat, and created the most dramatic scene of meeting Yoon Young-chul and coach Lee. Director Choi approached Yoon Young-chul, who had to fight with the legendary coach Lee, and encouraged him by saying, “Don’t run away, fight.”
A single home run equals the score. Yoon Young-cheol, who met the hitter who hit the most home runs in the KBO league even if he was at bat for the first time in 5 years after retiring, greeted manager Lee and threw the first pitch. It became a foul fly. game over.
Yoon Young-chul, who we met at KIA’s first team spring camp site, Kino Sports Complex in Tucson, Arizona, USA, laughed when asked about that time and said, “Actually, it was a mistake driven to the middle.” He said, “I tried to throw an outside fastball, but it ended up being a misspelling going into the middle.” It was a mismatch in the middle, and coach Lee hit it without missing it, but the sudden strike five years after his retirement was not like the heart.
Even Yoon Young-cheol said that match remained deep in his heart. “I was nervous during the first game of ‘The Strongest Baseball’, but not the next game,” he said.
Yoon Young-chul, who pitched in the crowd at the Gocheok Dome at the time, now meets hard hitters from each team at baseball stadiums across the country. Yoon Young-cheol is listed as a candidate for the 5th starting pitcher. He is in a situation where he is fighting with seniors such as Lim Ki-young and Kim Ki-hoon for a starting spot. Yoon Young-chul said, “It is important to not get hurt and to steadily pitch in the first team. That way, I can get a chance next season.”
When asked who he would most like to meet, he said Kim Dong-heon (Kiwoom), a battery from Chungam High School. He was a soul mate who formed a battery together, but now he has to fight as a player on the opposing team. But he’s confident Yoon Young-cheol smiled and said, “I think it will be new to me when I meet Dong-heon, but I am confident that he will not be hit.” Tucson (USA