Doosan Bears coach Lee Seung-yeop (49) washed away his disappointment in 2024 and announced his candidacy in 2025.토토사이트
Doosan held a ceremony to celebrate its foundation at Jamsil Baseball Stadium in Seoul on Monday, announcing its start of the 2025 season. Doosan, which finished fourth in the regular season last year, lost all of its games to fifth-ranked KT Wiz in the wild card (WC) game, allowing its first WC Upset in the KBO league.
Standing on the podium at the inaugural ceremony on Monday, Lee said, "Let's give fans more than a victory this year. Doosan represented by Hustle and Miracle. Let's revive the persistence that we are unlikely to lose even if we lose until the end of the game."
Doosan will depart for Sydney, Australia, on Monday to play its first spring camp. The first task to be solved in the camp is reorganization of the infielders. After the last season, Heo Kyung-min, the main third baseman, became a free agent and moved to KT Wiz. Veteran Kim Jae-ho, who finished the season as the main shortstop after two years of position competition, also retired. "Of course, Heo Kyung-min's vacancy is huge. He has kept Doosan's third base for more than 10 years," manager Lee Seung-yeop told reporters. "Players' eyes have changed since the day after the news of the transfer came out. It seems that he has become more determined to become the main player."
Kang Seung-ho is the key player in reshaping the infield. Doosan plans to test Kang, who is its main second baseman but has long-shot power, as a third baseman. In addition, the team is planning to use younger and more defensive players as keystone combinations (strikes-second basemen). "Kang's settlement at third base is a prerequisite for the realignment of the infield," coach Lee Seung-yeop said. "Kang is a player who can achieve far better performance than last year. As a team, a player with long-shot power should take the third baseman. Kang also said he intends to play as a third baseman."
After suffering injuries to foreign pitchers last year, Doosan quickly recruited former Major Leaguers Cole Irvin and Jack Rogue. "If foreigners do well in one-two punch, I think the three starting pitchers, including Kwak Bin, are the best in Korea. To lessen the burden on bullpen pitchers who pushed hard last year, starting pitchers have to throw long innings. I will change the way I handled the pitcher differently from last year. We will create an atmosphere where middle and closing pitchers can throw the last one inning," Lee said.
The year 2025 is the last year of Lee Seung-yeop's tenure as manager, who signed a three-year contract. "My goal is to advance to the Korean Series within three years," Lee said at the time of signing the contract with Doosan, but I failed to achieve that goal for two years. "Two years have gone by too fast. We had some tough times, but we cannot continue to have negative thoughts even as the years change. We will celebrate 2025 with new minds and new players. I will prove that the external evaluation (for lack of power) is wrong," Lee vowed.