"I got a lot of recognition in terms of defense."

SSG Landers changed the composition of the team ahead of the exhibition game against the Hanwha Eagles at SSG Landers Field in Incheon on the 10th.메이저놀이터

Pitchers Choi Min-joon and Kim Hyun-jae, infielder Choi Jun-woo and catcher Shin Beom-soo Kim Kyu-min, who came from Futures Camp, were called up, and rookie catcher Lee Yul-ye moved to the Futures team. Kim Hyun-jae and Kim Kyu-min were selected as pitching and batting MVPs in the Futures 2nd camp in Kagoshima, Japan.

Lee Yul-ye, who graduated from Gangneung High School, is a promising catcher who joined the first round of the 2025 rookie draft (8th overall).

As a former member of the youth team, he was recognized for his potential, including receiving the "Lee Man-soo Catcher Award," and was evaluated as above high school level, especially in defense.

SSG also prepared for the season at the first camp in Florida and the second camp in Okinawa, Japan, looking at Lee Yul-ye's growth potential early on. With Lee Ji-young as the main catcher, they competed with Cho Hyung-woo for the backup catcher position.

He also played in two exhibition games to aim for the first-team stage, but he had time to reorganize in the Futures League.

Lee needed more completeness in terms of batting performance. Lee played in 24 games in high school last year and recorded a batting average of 372, 16 RBIs and 28 runs scored with an OPS of 1.022. Dubbed the "second Kang Min-ho," the high school stage was calm, but the professional stage was different.

"We need to revise the hitting mechanism. We decided that it would be better to refine and make our own," explained SSG coach Lee Sung-yong.

The team garnered positive feedback in defense. "I was highly recognized in defense." Lee said, "As much as the defense is good, if we improve our batting performance a little more, we can perfectly perform our part in the first division. "I decided that it would be better to increase the hitting performance (by getting recognized in defense). I thought it would be better to play more games in the second division," Lee said.

The backup catcher who supports Lee Ji-young is likely to be Cho Hyung-woo. "We will have to wait and see (Lee Yul-yea joining the opening entry). First of all, I think Cho will have a chance," Lee said. Cho, who joined SSG in the second round of the rookie draft in 2021, joined the first team for the first time in 2022 and played 90 games for the three years.

On the other hand, about the five players who were called up on the day, he said, "We are making it a system that motivates the second-tier players and checks by posting and writing good players."