LG Twins Lim Chan-gyu (31) pledged that he and other local starting pitchers will work hard this year. Lim Chan-gyu met with reporters at Incheon International Airport before leaving for spring camp on the 30th and said, “Last year, (LG’s) defense, attack, and bullpen were all good, but the domestic starters were a bit weak. “In fact, the native starter was the weak link of LG, the integrated championship team in the 2023 season. LG, which ranked first in bullpen ERA (3.43) and first in team batting average (0.279), only ranked fifth in the league in starting pitcher ERA (3.92). It was against this background that a trade was made to bring in starter Choi Won-tae from Kiwoom Heroes in July of last year.
However, Choi Won-tae was unable to avoid a slump after transferring to LG, and the only native starter who played his part last year was Lim Chan-gyu .Last year, Lim Chan-gyu achieved the required number of innings (144 innings) for the first time in three years and achieved the most wins (14 wins, 3 losses) among native pitchers in the KBO League. The average ERA is 3.42.Lim Chan-gyu said, “If the domestic starters eat a lot of innings, wouldn’t the leakage in the bullpen (due to the departure of Ko Woo-seok and Ham Deok-ju) be restored?” He said .He signed a 4-year, 5 billion won free agent (FA) contract with LG last winter, and said, “Regulated innings are the basics, and I believe that having to pitch 150 or 160 innings is a qualification for being a free agent player.” However, he refrained from suggesting specific personal goals .Rather than being impatient to achieve the goal, I am determined to play the season with a mindset of focusing on one pitch at a time.
He said, “I want to win, have an ERA in the 3-point range, win 15 games, and be the starting pitcher in the Korean Series. But if I set it as a goal, I can’t achieve it,” and added, “I just have to go up (on the mound) and throw the ball. “I also tried not to attach much significance to LG coach Yeom Kyung-yeop’s decision to select him as the third starter. Lim Chan-gyu said, “I’ve always had the perception that I’m a pitcher who goes out when I tell him to go out. That’s my initial intention.” emphasized. He said with a smile, “I think Won-tae will do a good job as the third starter (instead of me).”The total value of Lim Chan-gyu’s contract of 5 billion won consists of a down payment of 600 million won, a guaranteed annual salary of 2 billion won, and incentives of 2.4 billion won. Lim Chan-gyu joked, “I couldn’t do it if I didn’t do it,” referring to the high incentive ratio, and then added, “I was able to concentrate well even before 온라인카지노 entering the camp. It was a definite motivation.”