Chung began his professional career by being drafted by the Lotte Giants in the second round of the 2024 Rookie Draft in the 13th round. However, the name was already well known to baseball fans even before he was called upon by the professional baseball team. This is because the process of receiving Lotte's selection in the draft through the entertainment show Strongest Baseball was vividly conveyed to fans.토토사이트
Wearing a Lotte uniform, Chung had an eventful first season after his debut. He enjoyed the joy of making his first win against the Kiwoom Heroes as a starting pitcher, but he sometimes left the mound without throwing a single strike. Nevertheless, Chung gained valuable experience by playing in 18 games last year with one win, one loss and one hold with an ERA of 4.56. After the 2024 season, Lotte even provided both physical and mental assistance to Chung.
From a long-term perspective, Lotte decided to send Chung and Lee Min-seok last year to the Chiba Lotte Marines' first-team wrap-up camp. Lotte expected that through three weeks of training, Chung and Lee will be able to learn upper-league training programs and routines. And Chung finished the first Taiwan Tainan and the second Japanese Miyazaki camps this year, and he showed impressive performances in practice games, enjoying the joy of being named camp MVP.
Last year, he moved between the starting pitcher and the bullpen, but this year, he is provided with the opportunity to take the mound as a bullpen pitcher in both practice games and exhibition games, so chances are high that he will mainly take the mound as a "one-point" or left-handed hitter specialist this season.
The reason why I was able to win the MVP award in the spring camp seems to have been largely influenced by what I felt through the Chiba Lotte Marines 1st-tier wrap-up camp last year. "The first thing to do is to reduce energy, so I tried to make a routine when exercising," Chung said. "Even without having to play games, I came to the playground when practicing and made an exercise that I do unconditionally after playing catch. As I keep doing that, I think I get both the rhythm and balance of throwing."
Of course, the experience accumulated in the first team also plays a big role. Chung Hyeon-su said, "It really helped me a lot. There were times when I couldn't throw any strikes and went down, and there were times when I threw well to win the game. As these things gathered one by one, I started to feel more at ease and learned how to beat myself on the mound. I am changing my mind a lot because I have to win against myself before I can win against another person," he explained.
Still, if I had to choose the biggest difference from last year, it would be a routine. And the process of making the routine was very interesting. I didn't just watch and follow other players' routines. Chung watched the players' training at the Chiba Lotte wrap-up camp and got the right exercise method. This shows how much research and effort he made to survive in the first team.
Chung Hyun-soo said, "I know that Chiba Lotte's pitchers are a really good team. And I saw a veteran player working out. But it wasn't 'I should copy this.' I thought, 'This player must be doing what he needs.' So I thought about what I needed and made a routine. It wasn't just that I should copy him."
Jung Hyun-soo said, "Sawamura is off-season and it was self-training. But he came to the playground very quickly and lived for almost an hour just stretching before training. I felt a lot that each of these things was important when I built my body and played. That's where I got inspiration," and when he said, "It must have been hard for me to find a routine that suits me," he said, "I've tried everything. I tried two or three things a day, and one of them was right for me."
He displayed good pace in practice matches, but suffered from some difficulties in exhibition matches. However, he has only one goal. "The season has not started yet, and we have a lot of exhibition matches left, but I will do my best to throw the ball to produce the best results when I go up," he said with force. Will Chung, who realized his enlightenment through Sawamura, be able to show better performance than last year.