Samsung Lions left-hander Lee Seung-hyun's poor performance is unusual. He has not been able to overcome batters with ball power.메이저놀이터

Lee Seung-hyun started in a home game against the Lotte Giants in the 2025 Shinhan Bank SOL Bank KBO League at Samsung Lions Park in Daegu on the 18th and became a losing pitcher with nine hits (two home runs), five strikeouts and seven runs in five innings.

It already lost three games without a win. On April 26, when it was its first game of the season, it lost five runs in three ⅔ innings against the NC Dinos. On April 5, he allowed one run (non- earned) in five innings against the Hanwha Eagles, but failed to display stellar performance against the Eagles. After losing three runs in five innings against the KT Wiz on April 11, he suffered another loss.

In the previous three games, four outs became a cause of concern. During 13 ⅔ innings in three games, he allowed 10 walks and one pitch that hit his body. When calculated based on the ratio of walks per nine innings (BB/9), the number stands at 6.6. On the day, he played his first walk-through game of this season. However, he gave up not only the most hits but also his first homerun.

It started off well. Lee struck out a fly ball to the first baseman, a fly ball to the left fielder, and a swing ball to the third baseman, in the second inning. After two outs in the third inning, he got a hit to Jung Bo-geun, but he struck out Hwang Sung-bin.

Due to bad luck, he gave up his first run. He threw a slider that fell from the 1-2 count to leadoff hitter Ko in the fourth inning. Ko threw his bat and managed to hit the ball. However, the missed ball fell into a position that the center fielder, the shortstop, and the second baseman could not grasp. Jeon's hit also bent for a long time before falling right in front of the foul line on the right side. First baseman Ko Seung-min scored, and Jeon Joon-woo reached second base.

Afterwards, he allowed a home run. He hit Victor Reyes with a straightforward second baseman, and Jung Hoon with a fly ball to center field, before grabbing two outs. The slider that he threw to Na went high, and Na Seung-yeop did not miss it, leading to a two-run homer. Lee Seung-hyun's first homer of the season. He struck out Kim Min-sung to end the fourth inning.

He failed to block Lotte's batters, which was on fire. He was hit by leadoff hitter Jeon Min-jae in the fifth inning. Jeon started at second base thanks to a liner by Information-geun. He allowed Hwang Sung-bin to hit an RBI double and Ko Seung-min to hit an RBI single. He allowed Jeon to swing and miss after a game of eight pitches. The slider that he threw to Reyes was too high toward his body, and he hit a wedge-shaped two-run homer. Jung-hoon got a hit again, but he caught Na Seung-yeop with a fly ball to right field and finished the long fifth inning. From the sixth inning, Lim Chang-min took the mound, and Lee Seung-hyun finished the game on the day.

The ball power couldn't overcome the Lotte bat. On the day, Lotte's batters gave up the bat No. 41 to Lee. Among them, he swung only five times. He swung 17 times against fastballs, but missed only one time. The situation is no different for slider, which is his main weapon. He swung and missed three times out of his 21st swing.

It is not just a matter of pitching on the day. In the 2024 season, Lee's strikeout rate (K/9) per nine innings was 7.0. The number dropped to 5.3 this year. The figure represents 41st among 46 starting pitchers who finished 10 innings. On the other hand, the ratio of walks increased from 3.8 to 4.8. As the number of strikeouts has decreased and the number of walks has increased, good results cannot be achieved.

Since starting last season, Lee has posted six wins, four losses and an earned run average of 4.23 in 17 games. In the first half alone, he displayed stellar performance in 13 games, including six wins and three losses and an earned run average of 3.28. In the second half of the year, he was shaken by four games, no win, one loss and an earned run average of 7.71 due to injury and sluggishness. During the off-season, he studied abroad at Cressey Sports Performance (CSP), a baseball program facility in West Palm Beach, Florida. Without the support of his team, he would have paid his own money. He sweated hard during the off-season, but has yet to produce any results during the regular season.

Lee Seung-hyun is the last puzzle of Samsung's starting pitcher rotation. Will he show a different side of his performance in the next game.