"I really want to meet Lee Yul-ye." Why did Yoo Ja-min and Durin, the top three high school catchers, want a general, not Yang Eui-ji? [Interview]

*This content was translated by AI.

Hwimungo captain Yoo Je-min (18), who boasts the best catcher's defense of his age, looked forward to meeting Lee Yul-ye (20, SSG Landers) after the professional nomination.

Yoo Je-min is one of the first players to be mentioned along with Kim Sun-bin (18) of Gwangju Il High School and Seol Jae-min (18) of Deoksu High School when asked about the top three catcher prospects in the 2027 KBO Rookie Draft, which will be held later this year.

He is 180cm tall and weighs 78kg based on the Korea Baseball Softball Association (KBSA), and is considered to be the best catcher's defense in the same age group. He adheres to everything he needs as a catcher, including strong shoulders, throwing accuracy, blocking, and framing. According to Yoo, the pop time from home to second base is around 1.8 seconds when the fastest, and 1.9 seconds on average. Pop time is the time required for a catcher to throw the ball straight to second base after receiving the ball from a pitcher.

In a recent phone call with Star News, a KBO club scout said, "Yoo Ja-min was really good early last year. As a catcher, he was good at fighting and his basic defensive skills were not like a second grader. In terms of shoulder and throwing accuracy, I think there is a high possibility that I will succeed as a catcher in the professional league."

Oh Tae-geun (48), head coach of Hwimungo, also said, "He was the best catcher in Seoul when he was in middle school. Last year, he was almost perfect, giving 99 points out of 100 in defense. The shoulders are at the top level, but the movement to pull out the hand is fast, so it is good to stop stealing. He explained, "I made him captain this year because he is smart and has a good attitude."

This is an example of his long experience as a catcher. Yoo Jae-min has been catching the ball since the first grade of elementary school along with his family who likes baseball, and has been wearing a catcher mask since the fifth grade of elementary school. Yoo Je-min, who recently met Star News at Hwimungo, said, "At first, I was a pitcher with him, and the catcher was fun to see how the game went as I thought. "I also felt the joy of catching the out count by myself if I caught a steal," he said.

It was an interview that reminded Lee Yul-ye when he was in Gangneung High School. Lee Yul-ye also wore a mask early after falling in love with the catcher's charm since elementary school, and headed to SSG in eighth place in the first round of the 2025 KBO Rookie Draft with the best defense of his age. Last year, he had a successful debut season, earning the nickname "General" with a dramatic come-from-behind two-run shot.

Unlike the near-completion defense, the scouts' evaluation of Yoo Je-min at this point is similar to Lee Yul-ye, who showed disappointment in hitting. Coincidentally, Yoo Je-min's role model for "Durin (Doosan Bears + Children)" was also Lee Yul-ye.

Yoo Ja-min said, "When I was young, I went to Jamsil Baseball Stadium a lot, and I was a Doosan fan. As such, of course, I liked Yang Eui-ji, but when I entered high school, Lee Yul-ye looked really cool. "It's cool that you went to the youth national team in the second grade, and I think you have a little similar style to me, so I made it a role model," he said. "The player I want to meet when I go professional is Lee Yul-ye." I'm also curious about how you use your gloves and I have a lot of trivial things I want to ask. I also have personal curiosity," he said.

We still have to catch up to a lot of the hitting and defense compared to Lee Yul-ye. Lee Yul-ye was evaluated by some KBO scouts as a catcher prospect who doesn't come out once a decade like Kim Hyung-joon (27, NC Dinos). The batting was also a question mark, but in his third year, he hit a batting average of 300 and was also nominated in the first round. On the other hand, Yoo Ja-min was disappointed with a batting average of 0.167 (8 hits in 48 at-bats) in 21 games last year, 0 homers, 10 RBIs and 7 runs, and an on-base percentage of 0.310 slugging percentage of 0.208 OPS (on-base percentage + slugging percentage) of 0.518. This is why scouts acknowledge their excellent defense but put them at the end of Yoo Je-min's top three high school catchers.

The KBO scout said, "In the second half of the year, he showed weak performance, maybe because of his physical strength." Of course, there were many difficult games in the second half of last year's Hwimungo. In fact, we have to show a little more potential in attack than in defense," he said. "Because the bat speed is not fast, the in-play batting ratio did not come out well even in the advantageous count," he said, adding, "The early part of last season was really impressive. If he continues to show his performance at that time, the top three catchers will be sufficient. I'm really looking forward to this year," he stressed.

Last year's bad batting performance came in the process of trial and error. Fortunately, he got a sense of it to some extent at the Seoul Long-Term High School Autumn Baseball Tournament in November last year, raising expectations for this season. The player himself was accurately aware of the evaluation and position he is currently receiving. Yoo Ja-min said, "Last year, I had a long time to raise my legs after consulting with coaches because of my greed to hit a little further. But it didn't work out, and I tried to force myself to get hit by anxiety, but it didn't work out."

"But as a second grader, I think I've been to the finals and done everything I can. It was a disappointing season, so I think I will do better based on that experience. I'm confident in contacting even if I can't hit far away. "The advantage is to hit a line drive, but I don't think I used my strength properly in my body last year, so I'm doing a lot of batting training this winter," he said with strength.

He also expected competition with Kim Sun-bin of Gwangju Il High School and Seol Jae-min of Deok High School. As he has a clear defensive strength as a catcher, he is determined to aim at the first time while improving his batting performance.

Yoo Jae-min said, "(Seol) Jae-min has known each other since middle school. There is also a sense of rival. I was a good bat player, but my results didn't come out well this year. "I want to play well next year and continue Liberley," he said with a smile. "I'm confident that I'll be good at everything in defense. I want to show a good performance in terms of hitting because I think it's worth trying to be the No. 1 catcher if I hit the bat well," he said.

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*This content was translated by AI.