The biggest homework for novice managers. We'll have to change pitchers. That's the perfect advice

Aug 20, 2025

The biggest homework for novice managers. We'll have to change pitchers. That's the perfect advice
A game between the Kiwoom Heroes and the Lotte Giants at Gocheok Sky Dome in Seoul on the 22nd. Acting coach Seol Jong-jin is preparing for the game. Gocheok = Reporter Park Jae-man pjm@sportschosun.com /2025.07.22/



"They told me that I have to do it to understand..."

Anyone is bound to have a first time in any position. 'Beginner' snuggles up. No one does everything perfectly from the beginning.

The same goes for baseball managers. When you lack experience, you have such a hectic time that you can't remember how the game went.




Kiwoom Heroes' acting head coach Seol Jong-jin is realizing the words. After the first half, Kiwoom replaced Hong Won-ki, and promoted Seol, who had been working as a second-tier coach, to the acting first-tier coach. Kiwoom's winning rate, which was 37 percent in the first half, rose slightly to 321 percent as of the 19th.

The hardest part of the manager's role is changing pitchers. This is the part where all directors express their grievances. Looking at the match against the KIA Tigers on the 19th, Seol must have experienced how difficult the manager's role is.

Starter Park Joo-sung pitched two perfect innings and suddenly shook and allowed four runs in the third inning. Since he was not in a situation to give up, he pitched another five-starter candidate, Kim Sun-ki, in the fourth inning, but he got it all over the place. Kim Yeon-joo was put in late after the win against him, but as soon as he came out, he gave Choi Hyung-woo a three-run home run.




Acting coach Seol, who met ahead of the match against Kiwoom on the 20th, said "The plan was to put Kim Sun-ki behind Park Joo-sung." It was expected that Kim Sun-ki would drag him to the fifth and sixth innings. But I didn't know if there would be a situation where I couldn't even catch one out count and keep losing points." "Kim Yeon-ju then tried to calculate whether to put Kim Sun-ki in the second half of the game if he liked him or to put him in the fifth start of Sunday's game. However, it was burdensome to leave Kim Sun-ki in a situation where he was hit hard. At that point, when other bullpen pitchers were not on standby, he said he would quickly prepare and put Kim Yeon-joo in."

After seeing Park's pitch, acting coach Seol said he would put one of Park Joo-sung, Kim Sun-ki and Kim Yeon-joo as starters in the game against the Samsung Lions on Sunday, the 24th. First of all, Park went down to the second team. The KIA match got twisted while doing this or that calculation.

Acting head coach Seol said "After becoming an acting head coach, he was a former head coach and kept in touch with various baseball players. He encouraged me to work hard and told me that it would be the hardest to set the pitcher rotation and replacement timing. No matter how much you say it, you won't understand. You said you could understand it while doing it, but that's exactly right. There are times when you fail as early as possible, and sometimes you feel sorry as late as you are. That's the hardest part,' he said honestly.




Still, the match against KIA on the 20th and 21st is a day when you can watch baseball more comfortably. Alcantara, because Mercedes' one-two punch comes out. Acting coach Seol said, `I hope Alcantara can stop six to seven innings. I think foreign pitchers should be responsible for at least 90 or more, until they lose four or five runs" he said.





This article was translated by Naver AI translator.