Doosan Bears coach Lee Seung-yeop is in his third year. He aims to return to the Korean Series.

In the fall of 2022, manager Lee Seung-yeop signed a three-year contract with Doosan. Lee, who had no experience as a leader at the time, said, "I played baseball where I lied about hitting home runs, but as a manager, I think we need the spirit of sacrifice by sending a ball to match the opponent's defense and making a ground ball." It was a "small ball" foreshadowing that the bench would get involved instead of relying on strong balls.토토사이트

The small ball that Lee had in mind did not come true as expected. In 2023, Doosan ranked 10th in the league with 19.4 percent (based on Statistics). In the same year, Doosan also ranked 9th with 66.3 percent success rate of its sacrifice bunt. In the second year last year, the ratio of additional base bunt was 21.2 percent (ranking eighth), and the success rate of sacrifice bunt was only 64.7 percent (ranked ninth).

Manager Lee Seung-yeop's small ball was a hot potato when he was running the mound. Doosan recorded 539 and 2/3 innings (4th) in 2023, but the number has drastically increased to 600 and 1/3 innings (1st) in 2024. The number of consecutive pitching by the relief team has also increased from 105 (10th) to 140 (2nd) in 2023. There have been controversies over Lee Byung-hun, who tied for first (77 games) in the number of games played and tied for third (22nd) in two consecutive innings (22nd) as a high school graduate, and Kim Taek-yeon, who pitched 65 innings (60 games) as a high school graduate.

The bullpen baseball game also had its own setbacks. Doosan tried to minimize consecutive wins despite the injury of foreign pitcher Dylan File in 2023. However, in 2024, Raul Alcantara and Brandon Waddell were all sidelined due to injuries. The four to five starting pitchers Choi Seung-yong, Choi Joon-ho and Choi Won-joon also suffered from injuries and sluggishness. Kwak Bin (167 2/3 innings) was the only starting pitcher in the stipulated innings, and Choi Won-joon (110 innings) was the only two starting pitchers.

Whether due to managerial philosophy or due to unavoidable factors, Lee failed to achieve satisfactory results with the small ball. Doosan ranked fifth in 2023 and fourth in 2024, all of which ended up losing in the final round of the wild card games. Lee pledged at the time of his inauguration to become a top-ranked player in the KS within three years, but his previous two-year performance was far from his goal.

While there is no "next" for his goal to advance to the KS, manager Lee Seung-yeop also predicted a change in 2025. At the inaugural ceremony on the 15th, Lee picked the starting lineup as "key." "I think foreign one-two punches are good, and if Kwak Bin is included, the first to third starters are the best in the KBO league," he said. "To reduce the burden on Kim Taek-yeon, Lee Young-ha and Lee Byung-hun, who were unreasonable last year, the starting pitchers must pitch more than five innings on average. Unlike last year, I will take the mound management. The atmosphere should be created in which middle pitchers can take the mound only in the last inning without overdoing themselves."

When he left for the spring camp on the 20th, Lee said, "Last year's starting pitchers did not stop long innings. Lee Young-ha used to take the mound before the 5th inning, but this year, we are trying to minimize that," adding, "Lee Young-ha may take the mound in the 7th and 8th innings." If starting pitchers take charge of five to six innings, bullpen pitchers will be able to finish the game even if they throw three to four innings."

However, the situation will not be much different in 2025 as the batting lineup is expected. "In the clutch situation, there were many swing and miss. I am thinking of strengthening my contact," coach Lee Seung-yeop said. "Of course, we cannot change the swing of batters, but we will make more in-play hits (in situations where we can score points)."

Doosan had a batting average of 0.280 (sixth) in scoring position in its team last year. The number of double plays was relatively small, from 1,393 times at bat (seventh) to 34 times at bat (eighth). In scoring position, the ratio of swing and miss stood at 10.8 percent (fifth) and the ratio of strikeouts stood at 18 percent (seventh). It is not a significant decline in the number of points recorded, but it may be regrettable as it was eighth in the production of forward hits that manager Lee wanted.

Lee Seung-yeop is not the only one who believes in this. "We need to analyze the opponent in more detail. I want the players to know more about why they have to play like this in this situation. I think we can add a few more wins if we play accordingly when we need to get out alive rather than aim for a hit unconditionally, or when we need to bring in a runner or call in." If the "thinking baseball" that Lee and Yang talked about can be realized, the team's score that ranked fourth (789 points) last year can also increase.