Unlimited competition in SSG's home turf! Coach Serizawa said, "The birth of a catcher in the main game? You have to be patient."

Unlimited competition in SSG's home turf! Coach Serizawa said, "The birth of a catcher in the main game? You have to be patient."

Blog Article

The home turf of SSG Landers has entered an infinite competition for the next starting pitcher. "We need time to be the main catcher," said battery coach Yuji Serizawa.

Three young catchers are competing in the Florida camp of SSG Landers. They are Shin Bum-soo (27), Cho Hyung-woo (22), and Lee Yul-ye (19).안전놀이터

An SSG official said, "Three catchers, Shin Bum-soo, Cho Hyung-woo and Lee Yul-ye, are competing indefinitely to occupy SSG's home turf," adding, "The club is showing expectations by listing three catchers from Kagoshima prospect camp to Florida spring camp."

Then there is a strong mentor and coach who can guide them. He is a veteran coach and player who worked hard as a player and coach in Korea and Japan. Serizawa, who joined the team in October last year, has been actively guiding the three catchers by cooperating with them.

There is only one position to serve as the next homebody following Lee Ji-young, the main catcher who joined the Kagoshima Futures Camp with some other veteran players. However, some observers said that the atmosphere of competition is unexpectedly warm.

An SSG official said, "The three catchers are competing fiercely with each other at the ballpark, but they are creating a strong relationship with close seniors and juniors outside the ballpark," adding, "Especially, they are creating synergy by eating together at the campsite and talking a lot baseball, and as a result, the training ground is always creating a lively atmosphere."

For these three catchers, coach Serizawa is leading the way, encouraging the three players to compete and helping the players grow through personalized feedback, according to the official.

Through the club, coach Serizawa also shared his feelings and detailed evaluations of working with three catchers.

Regarding the goal of fostering the three catchers, Serizawa emphasized, "The biggest purpose is to raise the team's main catcher." "For that to happen, defense and mental strength are important, but the part I want to emphasize the most is physical strength. We need to have a strong body that does not allow us to get injured."

The three catchers weighed strengths and weaknesses. "Players have different strengths and weaknesses to complement individually. The strength of (Cho) Hyung-woo and (Lee) Yul-yeul is his strong shoulders. I think it is very high even when looking at the KBO league as a whole," Cho said of Cho. "I think (Cho) Hyung-woo is completing his defense to a certain extent, but he still lacks blocking. We are focusing on strengthening his blocking in this camp."

Cho, who was born in 2002 and joined SSG through the second round in 2021, is a promising player with the highest expectations for his team. However, he only had a batting average of 0.242 (eight hits in 33 times at bat) and four RBIs and four runs scored in 19 games in the first team in 2024. He rarely found a place in the first team. In the Futures League in 2024, Cho also posted a somewhat disappointing batting average of 0.233 (24 hits in 103 times at bat) and 18 RBIs in 41 games, with an OPS of 0.642.
Regarding Lee Yul-ye, a catcher born in 2006 of Utuuta who was drafted by SSG in the first round of the 2025 Rookie Draft, Lee gave high marks to Lee's potential rather than his current skills. "(Lee) Yul-ye is still lacking in catching and blocking. If he develops these two skills, he has sufficient potential to become the main catcher," Serizawa said of Shin, another catcher.

Serizawa has served as battery coach for various professional teams in Japan and Korea, and has shared the birth of numerous large catchers. Asked what is the most important thing to grow into a main catcher, Serizawa stressed, "The team's main catcher doesn't happen all of a sudden. In order to grow into a main catcher, we have to wait patiently."

In the meantime, he cited Lee Ji-young, who is also a representative example of high expectations. "Lee Ji-young, our team's main catcher, was also with Samsung, but it wasn't made all of a sudden," Serizawa said. "He was able to play two or three games a week, and as he took steps, he became the main catcher."

In fact, Lee Ji-young gradually grew into a backup catcher while KIA Futures coach Jin Gap-yong, a legendary catcher, spent his career twilight as a main player during the Samsung Dynasty and later became a main player, and then grew into a representative catcher of the league through Kiwoom and SSG.

At the camp, the catcher's good training atmosphere and passion are especially emphasized by Serizawa, and at the same time, it is also the most important thing he cares about. Coach Serizawa said, "First of all, I'm going to step up and create a training environment and atmosphere. It's important to convey skills that can be understood by the players, but I think it's important how passionately the coach directs them," adding, "If you step up and take the lead first, the players will clearly feel the heart and sincerity of your hard work, and I think it will be an atmosphere where you work hard. I think this is the basics and I think it's important."