“No, shouldn’t Hyun-jong call me? I thought, ‘Dae-pitcher, are you sleeping?’ and called first.”
KT Wiz manager Lee Kang-chul called his “old student” Yang Hyun-jong of the KIA Tigers late at night on the 24th.
It was after watching Yang Hyun-jong’s interview. After setting a new record for the most strikeouts (2049K) in his career in Gwangju against the Lotte Giants on the 21st, Yang said in an interview with reporters, “After setting a record of 100 strikeouts for 10 consecutive years, I always wanted to brag about it to coach Lee Kang-chul. The basics of how to build my own body and how to recover is running. No matter how hot and tired I am, I am proud that I came this far because I did not compromise with myself. As expected, I learned from coach Lee Kang-chul. It was a coercive cramming training back then, but looking back on it now, I am so grateful.”
In 2007, when Yang was a rookie who just graduated from high school, Lee Kang-chul was a novice pitching coach at Kia who just started his coaching career. After watching Yang’s interview, Lee called Yang for the first time in a long time.
Coach Lee said, “I just talked a lot about the old days for the first time in a long time. I brought a yellow box each and threw hundreds of them, and Hyunjong practiced dozens of times to make up for it because his bunt defense was weak,” and laughed as he brought up old memories one by one.
And manager Lee Kang-chul picked former KIA pitching coach Toshio Kanbeto, not himself, as the person Yang should be most grateful for. He is also considered a “teacher in life” for Yang.
Coach Kanbe, a former Japanese professional baseball player, served as a pitching coach for KIA for two seasons from 2008 to 2009, and Yang Hyun-jong was the pitcher who focused on developing during that period. Yang Hyun-jong also does not forget his grace and always mentions it. When KIA advanced to the Korean Series in 2017, coach Kanbe visited Gwangju in person and watched Yang Hyun-jong’s shutout victory, and is spending his old age in his home country of Japan after quitting his coaching career due to health problems.
Coach Lee Kang-chul said, “Coach Kanbe raised Hyunjong. I only played a supporting role. I heard that Hyunjong went to Japan with his wife last year and met her. I said, ‘Be really good to him for the rest of your life,'” he said with a smile. “I’m grateful to him, too. I learned so much.” 메이저놀이터
Coach Lee Kang-chul said, “When I become a leader for the first time, especially those who were good at baseball don’t know how to teach younger players what they know. I learned a lot from coach Kanbe and coach Cho Bum-hyun. To be honest, I was annoyed at first. It was because I couldn’t even take a day off as a coach. During the first year, I took only one day off during the All-Star break. It was so painful. But after passing by, I realized this is how a coach should do it. I met him later and told him, ‘I really hated it then, but now I really respect him. Thank you so much.’
He put in a lot of effort to raise Yang Hyeon-jong, who is young and soft-hearted, as a solid pitcher. Kanbe said, “Only a lot of regular training makes a pitcher.” Kanbe has emphasized several times, “I don’t care about the coach either. I want to be an engineer who raises the best pitchers unconditionally,” and he is remembered as an exemplary leader who actually puts everything he has into developing players.
Coach Lee Kang-chul said, “After the game, coach Kanbe, I and Yang Hyun-jong went out to eat together. Then, they throw 400 or 500 shadow pitches each. His theory was that he should not take a day off. At first, Hyunjong, who was struggling at first, is also doing it every day, so his pace of performance has accelerated and his pitching form has become more and more constant. At that time, as his form settled down, he was able to continue to be sustainable.”
Coach Kanbe’s tenacity and consistent theory were, after all, the basics. The conviction that a pitcher who has built his basics through constant practice will eventually become a good pitcher was the foundation for making Yang Hyeon-jong.