He was also very curious. Kiwoom Heroes pitcher Jang Jae-young (22) showed his face as representative of Kiwoom along with infielder Song Sung-moon on the poster announcing the important game. He suddenly appeared next to "superstar" Shohei Ohtani (LA Dodgers) and drew attention.

Jang Jae-young, who was heading to Kaohsiung Spring Camp site in Taiwan on the 11th, met with reporters at Incheon International Airport and expressed his doubts. "I'm curious, too. I wonder why I'm there," he said, tilting his head. "There are many older brothers who are better at baseball than me," he said. "I talked with Sung-moon (Song) on the poster together, and he said he just went in."

Kiwoom will hold a warm-up match against the LA Dodgers on March 17 at Gocheok Sky Dome in Seoul. Tickets were sold out in an instant just because Ohtani, the most popular club in the world, belongs to. Jang Jae-young still expressed doubts about his presence in the poster, but vowed, "I'll do well!"

Expectations are high for this season, too. Jang took his first step as a pitcher last season with an impressive first win (against NC on July 5, 2023) in his debut. He was drafted first by Kiwoom in 2021, and received a large down payment, which earned the expectation of the team and its fans. However, he did not stand out much during the past two years. Still, Kiwoom developed Jang with patience. He gained fame for his fast speed, but his unique gentle posture is praised as a "Jeongseok."

However, he needed a lot of effort to achieve his impressive "one win." He shook his control whenever he took the mound. Kiwoom manager Hong Won-ki even banned the word "control" in front of Jang Jae-young. Jang Jae-young said, "The sense of fingertips is the most important thing, and if you throw with a certain release point, you can throw it wherever you want." "I agree," Jang said. "That's why I've been practicing throwing with a certain release point a lot. So far, I think preparations are going well."

However, it is important that the ball control is not swayed in practice. "My problem is that I often feel good during practice but not good at the beginning of a game," Jang said. "I think the problem was that I thought practice and practice were different. From now on, I don't think about how to throw better, but I try to throw as I liked during practice."

That's why I want to test myself at the Kaohsiung Spring Camp practice match. "The first thing I want to do is to check if I can throw the ball the same way when I practice and play," Jang said with a smile. "I would be very satisfied if that goes well."

What was the year like last year? "It was good to win one game, but I played in rotation as a starter, made quality starts (more than six innings and less than three earned runs), and felt a lot in the process as I threw a lot of balls. I felt so many things even when I was frustrated. I learned more than one win," Jang said.

"I always have high expectations before the spring camp starts. I am also excited. But even though I prepared with high expectations, I was disappointed by myself every year. So this year, I recognized my skills a lot before being disappointed. After that, I tried to learn what I was lacking. I hope all those things come out well in regular season games," Jang said, expressing his firm determination carefully.

Lastly, he said, "I think it's important to show what I learned last year well this year. That's how I can say that I had a good experience," adding, "The fans really looked forward to it. I'm always sorry that I couldn't repay you that much. The most upsetting thing was that my off-season efforts did not come out of the baseball stadium. I was disappointed in myself, but I will show you the results this year rather than the words."

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