"Director Yeom Kyung-yeop is a master of mine" On the day of 2023, when Lim Chan-kyu came to mind, one word from the head coach changed everything [Okinawa Station]

*This content was translated by AI.

LG Twins franchise star Lim Chan-kyu (34) couldn't forget a word from manager Yeom Kyung-yeop (58) three years ago.

Lim Chan-kyu met with Star News at Kadena Baseball Stadium in Kadena, Okinawa Prefecture, Japan on the 27th and said, "The preparation is going well as planned. As the director said, I think it's most important to prepare according to the routine." "I also felt that part, and after consulting with coach Kim Yong-il and the training part, I am constantly preparing for the same pattern without any change from 2023 to now," he said.

Starting in 2023, Lim Chan-kyu is in his prime with a double-digit victory and a 3-point ERA for the third consecutive year. In particular, he led LG to its fourth career championship last year by spending his career high season with 11 wins and 7 losses with a 3.03 ERA and 107 strikeouts in 160 ⅓ innings in 27 games. Lim Chan-gyu, the most innings in a single season,

Despite having the best season, Lim Chan-kyu tried to make a change after winning last year. Based on his compliance control, Lim Chan-kyu pitches to take away the timing of the batter by using a slow fastball, change-up, and curve of up to 145 kilometers per hour. Since we have reached a mature stage with the current style, if we raise the speed of the fastball a little more, the power can be added.

However, he gave up neatly on the advice of manager Yeom Kyung-yeop. Lim Chan-kyu said, "I sat at the same table with the coach at the celebration last year. It was before I went into offseason workouts, and the coach talked about the pitching pattern," he recalled.

He then jokingly said to the director, 'How should we start the speed enhancement program?' It wasn't a joke. Then the director said, 'You should stop talking nonsense and take more curve ball restraint deviations that you can throw and make the changeup more sophisticated. He told me to focus more on controlling the strength and weakness and the timing fight as I do now. He added, "I'm doing well enough, so I'm going to make my body better and focus only on maximizing my senses."

Coach Yeom Kyung-yeop, who met on the same day, said, "I like fastballs more than anyone else. I like home run hitters more than anyone else. However, it is more important to create continuity," he stressed. A case in point is the direct first-team performance of rookies Kim Young-woo (20) and Park Si-won (20) last year. Kim Young-woo is a right-handed fireballer who throws a maximum speed of 158 kilometers per hour and Park Si-won throws a maximum speed of 155 kilometers. On the contrary, he is also a manager who likes to use pitchers with good breaking balls such as folk balls and changeups, although he is slow to catch fastball such as Yoo Young-chan, Kim Jin-sung, and Ham Deok-ju.

Coach Yeom Kyung-yeop has always been a head coach who emphasized to the players that they can succeed in various directions. Lim Chan-kyu admits to the point that manager Yeom said, "Even if you ask me to do so, Lim Chan-kyu is the only successful one." Lim Chan-kyu took this particular point. This is also the reason why he abandoned his plan to increase his confinement without hesitating to coach Yeom's advice.

Lim Chan-kyu said, "I've met a lot of really good directors, but Yeom Kyung-yeop is a master to me. It was the director who recognized me. It's another matter than simply trusting me and hiring me. I want to take this opportunity to tell you in an interview like this, so I want to take this opportunity to say thank you very much," he said.

"I don't think you liked me when you first saw me. But in the first real game, he called me right at the start of the 2023 exhibition game after seeing me catch hitters with changeups. At that time, the coach told me not to care about anything else because my change-up and curve were so good," he added.

Coach Yeom Kyung-yeop's confident words at the start of the 2023 exhibition game changed the course of Lim Chan-kyu's career and LG's history. Lim Chan-kyu said, "I was the first director to admit me like that. Apart from my slow speed at the time, my control was honestly not a good player either. However, looking at me at that time, the coach mentioned Yoon Sung-hwan, Yoo Hee-kwan, and Son Min-han and said, "You have enough qualities to be like those players."

"What you said before entering the 2023 season made me a completely different player. In fact, the last years of the player are important, but I met a good person at a really good time. "Because he was such a recognizer, I agreed with the coach's words at the last meeting (congratulations meeting), and I'm preparing well for the season by setting my own color," he said with strength.

LG, which won the Korean Series last year, will try to win its second consecutive title in 2024. The camp atmosphere delivered by the pitching team leader is calm and serious without losing its brightness. Lim Chan-kyu said, "I think if you squeeze it harder to have something, it will break. As the director said, I always tell my younger siblings to pay attention to the same routine and details so that I don't make mistakes with the same mind. Just as I study and refine the change-up more, the players are doing well by paying attention to that."

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*This content was translated by AI.