When news of Korean baseball legend Lee Seung-yeop’s (47-year-old) appointment as Doosan Bears manager came out, there was a dubious atmosphere about ‘Director Lee Seung-yeop’. However, when the lid is opened, director Lee Seung-yeop is changing his suspicious gaze in a good direction.
In the final match of the weekend series against the KIA Tigers held at the Gwangju-Kia Champions Field on the 9th, Doosan won 3-2 and finished the first expedition with a 2-1 lead. After the opening, they recorded 5 wins and 3 losses in 8 games, and are tied for 3rd place, one game behind the leader SSG (5 wins, 1 loss).
What’s more encouraging than just the results is Lee Seung-yeop’s attitude in managing the team and his composure that doesn’t seem like a novice coach at all. After retiring in 2017, he had no experience as a professional coach, so his move was all the more surprising.
Surprise ① The season is long.The most notable thing is leisure.메이저사이트 It is never easy to become a manager in professional baseball, where every game is blood-curdling. In particular, Doosan had a close game within 3 points in 6 out of 8 games. Still, the director is not in a hurry.
The KIA game on the 8th is a representative example. In the game, which was trailing 4-6, Kim Jae-hwan hit a two-run homer in the top of the 9th inning, but in the bottom of the 9th, instead of Pil Seung-jo, Kim Myung-shin and Park Shin-ji managed the bullpen. In the end, after getting a final hit and losing to KIA, he explained the reason.
Manager Lee Seung-yeop said, “Chul-Won Jeong and Chi-Gook Park couldn’t play because they fought together, and Kun-Hee Hong tried to send them out when they were in a save situation, but as the score was tied, I wanted to continue with the remaining players.” If it was ordered and then overloaded, it could become difficult in May or June, so I endured and endured again.”
In the end, this decision gave Lee the victory on the 9th. After starter Kwak Bin resigned with 2 runs in 5⅓ innings (visa fault), coach Lee threw in Park Chi-guk, Jeong Cheol-won, and Hong Gun-hee, who saved their stamina, to finish the close game with a 3-2 victory.
Surprise ② Even players’ mental care, a meticulous command towerFrom his days as a player, when talking about manager Lee Seung-yeop, it is impossible to leave out his outstanding personality. His personality is applied equally to his disciples as his director.
Coach Lee said, “A mistake can be made at any time,” while watching players who made mistakes or failed during the game. During the coach meeting, he said, “Never reprimand the players.”
Director Lee’s ‘mental care’ worked well in this weekend series as well. Kang Seung-ho, who hit a double in the middle left in the 6th inning against KIA on the 9th with 2 RBIs in the final, had a lot of worries. He didn’t have a bad sense of hitting enough to record 3 multi-hits, but it was because the batted ball seldom floated and there was not a single long hit.
A word from director Lee made Kang Seung-ho different. Kang Seung-ho said, “In the game the previous day, I couldn’t save the runner on third base and bases loaded. It was early in the season, but I felt uncomfortable because there were a lot of ground balls.” “The manager said before the game, ‘You’re doing well. It’s done.’ The coach believed me from the last minute of the exhibition game that I was the starting second baseman, and I want to protect it as much as I was given the opportunity.” The loyalty of the disciple to the command tower who believed in him increased even more.
Surprise ③ Sometimes coolly, ‘leadership of reversal’Director Lee Seung-yeop is not just gentle. He rarely raises his voice and gets angry, but he also stimulates the players with calm and clear messages.
Yang Seok-hwan is a good example. Director Lee has been emphasizing Yang Seok-hwan’s role since his appointment. After transferring to Doosan in 2021, he recorded a career high with 28 homers and 96 RBIs, but suffered ups and downs with 20 homers and 51 RBIs last year. This year, he showed poor sense of hitting even in the demonstration game and two games after the opening of the season. Coach Lee placed Yang Seok-hwan as the 8th hitter against the NC Dinos on the 6th.
In this game, Yang Seok-hwan had 2 hits and 3 RBIs, including his first home run of the season, and on the 7th against KIA, he rose to the 6th batter again. Yang Seok-hwan, who hit home runs in two consecutive games that day, said he didn’t care much about the batting order, but said, “Still, number 6 is better than number 8, and it’s better to go to the center of the batting line than number 6.” I will go,” he said.
In the end, in the game on the 9th, he went up to the third batter. And Yang Seok-hwan rose to first place alone in this category with a preemptive solo home run in the first season, No. 3. Coach Lee raised his thumb, saying, “I want to praise Yang Seok-hwan for the home run that brought victory.” He showed that just one batting order adjustment can motivate someone.
Coach Lee Seung-yeop, who struggled with the starting shortstop position before the season, said, “If you have an idea to play as the starting pitcher, you have to show it more.”
Lee Yu-chan, who played as the starting shortstop in 6 out of 7 games after the opening, was removed from the lineup on the 9th. Ahn Jae-seok seized the opportunity. Before the game, Ahn Jae-seok pledged to himself, “There are not many opportunities, so we have to do well.” In this way, director Lee naturally stimulates a sense of competition and induces mutual growth.
Although he is a ‘newbie manager’, he looks ahead to the season and does not dwell on immediate results. Sometimes he carefully and gently encourages, and sometimes he delivers a firm message and stimulates the team. Who can evaluate director Lee Seung-yeop as a ‘newbie’ director?
