Hanwha's Yang Sang-moon, I will Forget the Past

"Young pitchers' potential must be brought out... but it must not be rushed"

50-year relationship with manager Kim Kyung-moon... Reunion with Ryu Hyun-jin missed during Lotte manager era

Former manager Yang Sang-moon is leaving his long career as a coach for the Hanwha Eagles, a professional baseball team, behind him.

Former manager Yang Sang-moon, who served as the manager of the Lotte Giants (2004, 2005, 2019) and the LG Twins (2014-2017), was appointed as Hanwha's pitching coach on the 5th. 파워볼게임

He also served as the LG general manager in 2018, and led 879 regular season games, recording 398 wins, 459 losses, and 22 draws (win rate of 0.464).

In a phone call with Yonhap News on the same day, the new coach Yang said, "I will forget everything I did in the past," and "I will do my best in this area so that Manager Kim Kyung-moon can have confidence in the pitching department."

The fact that Hanwha has appointed a former manager and general manager as the pitching coach means that they are putting everything on the line for the pitching department.

Hanwha has used the first overall pick for the past three years to build a fastball young gun trio consisting of Moon Dong-joo, Kim Seo-hyun, and Hwang Jun-seo.

In addition, there are many young pitchers waiting to grow, such as Jo Dong-wook, Kim Ki-joong, and Kim Gyu-yeon.

Coach Yang said, "There are many young players with great potential to represent Korean baseball in the future.

He said, "I'm thinking about how to (grow) these guys in a good way."

He said, "It's natural to raise (the pitching staff's capabilities) as much as possible during the given period, but that doesn't mean we should rush it."

He explained, "I'll talk a lot with the players and comprehensively look at what I can do to help them, whether it's technical or mental."

Attention is being paid to whether this, combined with Coach Kim's unique philosophy of tenacity and using players he trusts until the end, can create a 'development synergy.'

To Coach Yang, Manager Kim is a 'big brother' who has been with him for over 50 years, as they were seniors at Busan Dongseong Middle School and Korea University.

"This kind of connection has come," said Coach Yang, who was moved and said, "For a baseball player, wearing a uniform is the happiest thing, but I feel even better to be working with my senior, Manager Kim Kyung-moon."

Coach Yang said, "I came here a lot as a commentator until last year to cover Hanwha games," and "I felt a lot seeing the passion of Hanwha fans.

I feel good to be here at a time when I was wondering if there was any way I could help."

He also has a special connection with 'Korean Monster' Ryu Hyun-jin, who returned to the KBO League this year.

When he was the Lotte manager, Coach Yang wanted to recruit Ryu Hyun-jin in the 2006 rookie draft, but Lotte selected Na Seung-hyun from Gwangju Ilgo High School with the first pick in the second round, and Hanwha, which had the second pick, took Ryu Hyun-jin.

Coach Yang said, "I played with Hyun-jin on the national team, and when I was the manager of LG, Hyun-jin (who was with the Los Angeles Dodgers) trained with us and gave us lessons at our spring camp, so we have a good relationship," adding, "I'm really happy to be playing baseball with him."