Once again, 157→156→157km! The 1m97 giant's new start after 25 days → It's not the end but the beginning.

Jun 16, 2025

Once again, 157→156→157km! The 1m97 giant's new start after 25 days → It's not the end but the beginning.
photo courtesy of Lotte Giants



Once again, 157→156→157km! The 1m97 giant's new start after 25 days → It's not the end but the beginning.
photo courtesy of Lotte Giants
It wasn't that perfect three pitches 25 days ago. However, the head coach's first test, which was considered to adapt to the bullpen, was a success.

SSG Landers Field in Incheon on the 15th. Lotte starter Lee Min-seok, who threw well, was shaken by allowing a solo shot to SSG Eredia in the bottom of the sixth inning and even giving up a double to Ko Myung-joon. Lotte put Chung Hyun-soo and Kim Kang-hyun one after another to put out the fire.

With two outs in the seventh inning, suddenly the pitching coach took the mound.




Kim Kang-hyun was in a situation where he could finish until the 7th inning. Although he was in charge of one inning, Kim Kang-hyun pitched only nine pitches.

But it wasn't even a must-win group. One out count left, Lotte manager Kim Tae-hyung's choice was Yoon Sung-bin.

Once again, 157→156→157km! The 1m97 giant's new start after 25 days → It's not the end but the beginning.
photo courtesy of Lotte Giants
It was the first-team mound that returned 25 days after starting against LG on May 20. At that time, he struck out three pitches by hitting 156-157km of fastballs against the first batter, Park Hae-min, but Yoon Sung-bin, who later collapsed due to difficulties. It was the worst pitch in Yoon Sung-bin's few first-team career with four hits, six walks and nine runs in one inning.




However, Kim Tae-hyung's opinion on Yoon Sung-bin was different from previous Lotte coaches. If you have such a good ball, you have to use it to throw even one inning somehow. Manager Kim Tae-hyung said, `Rather than putting pressure on long throws, it may be better to play short and short games. I have such a good ball, but I can't let it go. Even if you can't throw it, you have to throw it in the first team."

Since then, Yoon Sung-bin has taken the mound as a bullpen in six consecutive games in the second division, scoring five runs in 13 innings and learning his role as a bullpen pitcher. In particular, the 22 strikeouts, no matter how much they say they are in the second division, gave us an unrivaled pitch.

And he came to the first team on the 13th, and it was his first appearance on the 15th. In the bottom of the seventh inning, trailing 0-1, although there was no runner, it was not just a comfortable situation. Even the opponent is SSG's proud national outfielder Jihoon Choi.




Once again, 157→156→157km! The 1m97 giant's new start after 25 days → It's not the end but the beginning.
Yoon Sung-bin checking pitchcom equipment during pitching in the first inning.
Again, the ball speed was brilliant. He also inserted 157-156-157 km one after another. Both of the previous two pitches were balls, but they were still targeted near the strike zone. Jihoon Choi's bat for the third pitch turned sharply, but it finished with a fly ball to right field. Fans applauded toward Yoon Sung-bin, who was going down the mound.

Yoon Sung-bin joined Lotte with the first nomination in 2017. Since then, he has taken the mound in 18 games (10 starts) in 2018, his second year, and played 50 ⅔ innings, recording 2-5 losses with a 6.39 ERA, showing his potential.

A long silence followed. After one game a year, it was repeated to go down after showing intense turbulence enough to suspect mound phobia. Therefore, Yoon avoided contact with the media for a long time. The two words 'retirement' always seemed to hover around him.

Once again, 157→156→157km! The 1m97 giant's new start after 25 days → It's not the end but the beginning.
photo courtesy of Lotte Giants
Yoon Sung-bin, who met coach Kim Tae-hyung at the inauguration ceremony at the end of 2023, said, `Next year is my eighth year as a professional. To be honest, I lost a lot of confidence. It's uncomfortable to stand on the mound. I'm thinking about whether I'll really quit baseball at this rate. I'm doing my best so that I don't regret it," he said, holding himself together.

A year and a half has passed since then. Yoon Sung-bin is on the threshold of being reborn as a first-team player, not a full-time prospect in the second-tier team, amid the sincere care of the coaches, including head coach Kim Tae-hyung.

Can one out count of the day be remembered as a new beginning for Yoon Sung-bin, who will be responsible for Lotte's back door in the future. Instead of being forgotten as it is, Yoon Sung-bin chose to overcome the reality that afflicts him. Can he be the one talking about 'Let's go' instead of 'Last' anymore.





This article was translated by Naver AI translator.