In baseball, you might be surprised at how many times you’re asked, “Do you like your mom or your dad?” or something along those lines.
The same goes for the question of which position you’re more attached to if you were a two-hitter in high school. It’s natural to want to play both because you love it and you’re good at it. However, it’s important to use spring training to determine where you can really excel. The same goes for the question of players who can digest all positions in the infield. If you ask them, “Do you feel most comfortable at shortstop, third base, second base, or first base?” most of them don’t have a good answer. This is because I played shortstop my senior year of high school, but I also played third or second base my freshman and sophomore years. Again, as mentioned earlier, you can make small adjustments based on your team’s needs. If not, the team can make arrangements for players to play redundant positions based on their skills.
As you can see, there are many questions in baseball that are surprisingly difficult to answer. And sometimes, the lack of an answer is the right answer. That’s the beauty of baseball. Therefore, the statement “There is no right way to play baseball” is not wrong. What works for you may not work for someone else, and what works for someone else may not work for you, and what works for someone else may not work for you. Baseball is a living thing, and you have to realize that exceptions to the textbook rules can happen all the time.
Ditch the restraints and get a fastball?
A look at Lee Sang-young with a lowered arm angle
In that sense, Jang Hoon’s wide-angle approach to hitting was actually far from a textbook form. However, he chose this approach throughout his career because he knew it was what he was comfortable with and that it produced quality balls. I think that’s why I hit 500 home runs and 3,000 hits at the same time, so the idea of teaching 100 players to hit the same way is outdated.
Every now and then, I get a video from a young player who says, “I’m hitting, and I want you to see if this is the right way to hit,” and that’s what Jang Hoon’s story is about. “If there are 1,000 batters in the world, there are 1,000 batting forms. If there are 1,000 batters in the world, there are 1,000 batting forms, and even if you teach 1,000 people the same thing in a textbook way, they’ll eventually find something that works for them.” Instead, he stops short of telling them what looks “most natural” when batting free, which is very realistic advice for a layperson used to watching baseball.
I mention this because I’m thinking of Lee Sang-young (LG), who immediately became the fourth starter after being drafted out of the mercantile service, only to be demoted to the second team after two games. A left-handed pitcher who throws a fastball that reaches up to 149km/h, Lee was a first-round pick for LG. He could have been a full-time starter in the first team at any time. In fact, he dominated the Futures League during his time with the team, raising expectations. Right after he left the team, he went 8-1 with a 2.63 ERA in the Futures League. It was no surprise that coach Yoon Kyung-yeop named him one of his four starters.
At last year’s Under-23 Baseball World Cup, Lee was the most dominant pitching talent. Although South Korea lost to Japan in the final, few pitchers on the national team pitched as well as he did. In fact, his performance on the mound helped the team finish as runners-up for the first time in U-23 World Cup history.
Behind the success, however, there was some criticism that his fastball wasn’t as good as it used to be. In his first start after leaving the military, his fastball only reached 141 mph, and he was relying more on his changeup than his offspeed pitches. It was a far cry from his high school days. Add to that the fact that he was dropping his arm angle almost to a sidearm, and it was clear that he wasn’t taking full advantage of his height. To the uninitiated, it could be argued that he was sacrificing his control for his pitches. I compared Lee’s pitching form from his high school days to his commercial career.온라인바카라
As a result, I could see that the way he threw was different from his high school days. Of course, even in high school, he didn’t throw with his elbow fully extended, but he didn’t go beyond the range of a left-handed orthodox pitcher’s pitching form. This was much the same in his early years as a pro, but shortly after his military service and discharge, he found himself throwing with a sidearm, almost like Kim Dae-yoo (now KIA). In Kim’s case, a major change was necessary as he entered his 30s, but in Lee’s case, one can’t help but wonder if he’s lost his biggest advantage (high batting average) because he’s still young.
Of course, there is no right answer to this. If there are 1,000 pitchers, there should be 1,000 pitching forms. However, with that in mind, there’s no doubt that he needs to refine his game a bit more in the Futures League.