As soon as Hanwha Lee Min-woo (30) was promoted to the first team for the first time this season, he showed off his presence by participating in three consecutive fights.
Lee Min-woo, who joined KIA as a first-round pick in 2015, has appeared on the first team stage since 2017. Afterwards, he pitched as a starter and in the bullpen, but did not achieve much growth. There was a change last year. On April 23, he was transferred to Hanwha through a trade along with outfielder Lee Jin-young.
Lee Min-woo served as both a starter and bullpen player at Hanwha. Starting against Doosan on June 9, he only appeared as a bullpen. On September 11, he ended the season by dropping down to the second team after the match against SSG. He finished with 25 games, 44⅔ innings,안전놀이터 1 win, 1 loss, and an ERA of 6.25.
This year, we started in the 2nd team from the beginning. He was not named to the spring training roster. He quietly climbed the mound in the Futures League and waited for the first team to call. He pitched 32 games, 33⅓ innings, with 3 wins, 1 loss, and 6 holds, and an ERA of 5.40.
He finally got a call to the first team after showing good form by pitching scoreless in three games right before being called up. Lee Min-woo, who did not appear on the first team stage until September 7th, started against Gocheok Kiwoom on the 8th. Lee Min-woo, who took the mound in the 8th inning with his team ahead 4-3, allowed 1 hit and 2 runs (unearned) in ⅓ innings. A defensive error was recorded as Lee Min-woo’s goal.
In the second game of the double header on the 9th, they showed off their stability. Lee Min-woo, who came on the mound in the bottom of the 6th inning with the score 1-1, finished with a three-way retirement with 11 balls. In the top of the 7th inning, Noh Si-hwan hit the final double and won 3-1, giving Lee Min-woo a relief win.
I thought Lee Min-woo’s career would end here. However, coach Choi Won-ho also appeared in the game on the 10th. He came out in the bottom of the 7th inning with a 9-7 lead and created another three-run inning. He also got a hold on this mound. It is a touching hold recorded four years after the hold against Samsung on June 11, 2019.
Lee Min-woo, whom we met before the game on the 12th, looked back and said, “Honestly, it was a 3-game series that I never expected. It was my first time playing for the first team, so I thought I would go out in a comfortable situation. I thought about a series of games, but I didn’t know I would play 3 games in a row.”
I really couldn’t have imagined pitching on the 10th. Lee Min-woo said, “(When I was about to change the pitcher) I got a call from the bullpen. I thought, ‘I guess not,’ but they told me to warm up. I was surprised (laughter). I decided to show that I can have an impact by going out, and I thought I would do it.” “I went out safely,” he explained.
That mindset resulted in immediate results.
Lee Min-woo has a greater desire to be a bullpen pitcher than a starting pitcher. He said, “I started as a starter at KIA, and while doing so, I wanted to play in the bullpen. (As a starter) I threw for a long time, but it didn’t end well. In the bullpen, you can use all your powerful balls in a short period of time, one inning at a time. That’s why I like the bullpen better. “He said.
Director Choi Won-ho quickly recognized Lee Min-woo’s tendencies. Last year, when he was the second-team manager, he noticed that Lee Min-woo prefers bullpen pitching and is suited to bullpen pitchers, so he had him pitch in relief.
Manager Choi said, “In my personal opinion, Min-woo pitches well when he goes out in tight situations. In order to improve (Min-woo Lee’s) performance, it would have been better to use the bullpen for one inning per inning,” adding, “He is a player with a good curve and cutter. So, if he is pitched to the right-handed hitter, “I thought it would be okay. I made a mistake in my first appearance, but I pitched well in all three games,” he praised.
Lee Min-woo took a day off and took the mound in the Jamsil game against Doosan on the 12th. He came on the mound with bases loaded and no outs in a 3-3 game. Perhaps because he was nervous, Kim Jae-ho committed a wild pitch during his at-bat and gave up a run. And he gave up a sacrifice fly to Jae-ho Kim. The loss ended here. He walked Seok-Hwan Yang, but struck out Ui-Ji Yang on an infield fly out to second baseman and Jae-Hwan Kim. 1 inning, 1 walk, 1 strikeout, no runs allowed.
Lee Min-woo said, “When I was in the 2nd team and I thought it was time to move up, my condition dropped and I didn’t pitch well. That’s how I got to September. I think the timing was off about once or three times. As I worked hard to get up there, my goal is to stay in the 1st team until the end of the remaining season. And next year. “I want to be in the first team from the beginning of the season,” he said.