*This content was translated by AI.
It's a great will. Doosan Bears' "5.2 billion Free Agent (FA)" bullpen pitcher Lee Young-ha (29) finally started the engine. However, he is showing tremendous motivation by throwing more than 100 balls as if he has already entered the season.
The Doosan Bears squad is currently playing its first spring camp schedule in Sydney, Australia.
According to Doosan officials, pitchers' bullpen pitching began on the 27th. And among them was Lee Young-ha.
Lee Young-ha checked his condition by throwing 36 balls on the 27th. And on the 30th, just three days after the two-day break, he threw 104 pitches, burning his will to the 2026 season.
Regarding Lee Young-ha, a Doosan official said, "He is showing the fastest pace among pitchers," adding, "It's not just a lot of pitches. "The coaching staff's evaluation is that both overall balance and ball power are good," he said.
Manager Kim Won-hyung watched Lee Young-ha's bullpen pitching with interest. Rumor has it that he showed feedback for a long time in the middle of Lee Young-ha's bullpen pitching and after it was over.
In early January, Lee Young-ha participated in "Team Togo" winter training with Park Woong and Park Shin-ji in Nobeoka, Japan. Since then, Lee Young-ha has steadily pitched half-pitching and improved his physical condition. After returning home on January 14, he showed his passion to arrive in Australia directly as an advance team on the 18th. Analysts say that raising his body by taking the mound every day in Australia has led to his current good pace.
Lee Young-ha said through the Doosan club, "We have been preparing steadily in Japan and Australia in January, so our physical condition was ready."
"We're not raising the number of pitches for the starting pitcher position. Originally, he pitched more than 100 pitches steadily in the spring camp. The pace is not burdensome because it also adjusts the level of the bullpen pitching or checks the balance between them. I'm going well at the pace I planned in Australia," he said.
Lee Young-ha continued, "When the manager was a pitching coach, he remembered that I pitched the outside course well. I'm paying attention to that, too. Today, he expressed his joy, saying, "The director immediately recognized the intention I thought of in the center movement or balance part." Lee Young-ha spent his career high season with 17 wins, 4 losses and an ERA of 3.64 in 29 games in 2019 when manager Kim Won-hyung was the Doosan pitching coach.
Finally, Lee Young-ha said, "I don't care about the position at all. I will only care about doing my best every day in the camp," he said, promising the next.
Meanwhile, Lee Young-ha, who acquired his first FA qualification after the end of the 2025 season, signed an FA contract with Doosan in November last year and remained. It was a four-year maximum of 5.2 billion won (2.3 billion won in down payment, 2.3 billion won in annual salary, and 600 million won in incentives).
Lee Young-ha, who graduated from Youngil Elementary, Gangnam Middle School, and Sunlin Internet High School, joined Doosan in 2017 after receiving the first nomination in 2016. The down payment for joining the team is 350 million won. And Lee Young-ha will soon become a pitcher in his 10th year as a professional pitcher next year.
Lee Young-ha took the mound in 20 games in the 2017 season, his debut season, and went 3-3 with a 5.55 ERA. The following year, he was ranked as a pitcher with 10 wins (3 losses and 2 holds) in the 2018 season, and finally showed a strong performance in the 2019 season with 17 wins, 4 losses and an ERA of 3.64. a young age of twenty-two. It was said that an ace who will be responsible for 10 years of Doosan's starting mound appeared.
After having a difficult time outside of baseball for a while, he returned during the 2023 season with a "not guilty" ruling and threw the ball vigorously again. Earlier in the 2020 and 2021 seasons, he started as a starter at the beginning of the season and then changed his position to a bullpen. He returned as a starter in the 2022 season, but began to solidify his position as a bullpen pitcher again in the 2023 season.
In the 2023 season, Lee Young-ha pitched in 36 games and posted a 5-3 record with a 5.49 ERA with 4 holds. In the 2024 season, Lee Young-ha did his part by taking responsibility for more than 60 innings. He pitched in 59 games and recorded 5 wins, 4 losses, 2 saves, 5 holds, and a 3.99 ERA. While throwing a total of 65 ⅓ innings, he recorded 62 hits (four home runs), 36 walks, 59 strikeouts, 34 runs (29 earned runs), 1 Blon Save WHIP (on-base allowance per inning) 1.50 and a hit rate of 0.243. Regardless of the must-win group and the chase group, he played the role of Madangsoe properly by playing all the weather.
After the end of the 2024 season, Doosan recognized Lee Young-ha's performance. I repaid it with a big raise. It was stamped at 180 million won, an increase of 80 million won from the previous annual salary of 100 million won. And in the 2025 season, Lee Young-ha took the mound in 73 games, marking 4 wins, 4 losses and a 4.05 ERA with 14 holds. In a total of 66 ⅔ innings, he recorded 63 hits (four home runs), 39 walks, 72 strikeouts, 33 runs (30 earned runs) and 5 blon saves, 1.53 on-base allowances per inning (WHIP) and 0.254 on-base hits.
Eventually, after the season ended, Lee Young-ha remained at Doosan, stamping on the condition of a total of 5.2 billion won. At the time, a Doosan official explained the background of the FA contract with Lee Young-ha, saying, "He is an essential player for the team with the durability to play more than 60 innings a year. And he will lead the Doosan mound again as one of the starting candidates for the 2026 season.
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*This content was translated by AI.
