Professional baseball SSG Landers' "5th Selection Audition" is expected to continue throughout the exhibition game.안전놀이터

SSG has confirmed its first to fourth starters in the 2025 season.

Two foreign pitchers Mitch White and Drew Anderson will take a spot in the starting lineup, and native left-hander ace Kim Kwang-hyun will form an axis. On top of that, Moon Seung-won, who originally played as a starter and moved to the bullpen from 2022 to 2024, will be transformed into a starter again and join.

SSG plans to select the fifth starting pitcher through internal competition. Veteran submarine pitchers Park Jong-hoon, who seeks to revive his reputation from Young Guns Song Young-jin, Chung Dong-yoon, and Kim Geon-woo, competed for the fifth starting pitcher throughout the spring camp.

However, with the occurrence of injury variables, the competition for the fifth starter has become more important.

White, who was expected to be the first starter, suffered a thigh injury during spring camp, making it difficult to join from the opening game.

White will undergo a reexamination on Wednesday. There is a possibility that he could find another alternative if his recovery from injury takes a long time, but if the gap is not expected to be long, one of the five starting candidates in the first half of this season could fill the vacancy.

This is why SSG is watching the five starting candidates more closely through exhibition games.

The four players, who have competed for the fifth starter, showed good performance in the spring camp, raising expectations, but they are struggling somewhat in the exhibition game, causing concern.

Song Young-jin, who has been consistently given the opportunity to start since the beginning of the 2024 season and recorded 5-10 losses and a 5.80 ERA in 26 games, was selected as the Most Valuable Player (MVP) in the spring camp.

However, he was not very good in his first appearance in an exhibition game. Song, who started at home against the Hanwha Eagles on May 10, gave up three runs during three innings, giving up five hits, one walk and one walk.

Park Jong-hoon, who was the first among the five starting candidates to appear in the exhibition game, was also disappointed.

Park Jong-hoon, who took the mound after starting pitcher Kim Kwang-hyun in an away game against the Samsung Lions on the 9th, was shaken by six hits, two strikeouts, two strikeouts, and five runs (4 earned runs) in two ⅓ innings.

Park Jong-hoon, who kept one of the pillars of the SSG's starters, including 13 wins, 11 losses and a 4.81 ERA in 2020, has since gone downhill and is seeking to revive this year, but he has not gotten off to a good start.

Right-hander Chung Dong-yoon also stirred concern by allowing six hits and five runs during three ⅓ innings at the match against Hanwha in Incheon on Wednesday. He allowed long balls in every inning until the third inning, and allowed two hits that hit his body, displaying turbulence.

Only left-hander Kim Gun-woo, who was the first designated player in 2021, made an impression in the exhibition game.

Kim Gun-woo, who took the mound after Song Young-jin in the match against Hanwha on the 10th, gave up only two hits in three innings and blocked the Hanwha lineup without losing a point.

He threw 36 balls with 10 batters and struck out one. He didn't yield a walk or a hit ball. He used heavy fastballs with speeds of up to 147 kilometers per hour as his main weapon to display good pitching.

With the five starting candidates exposed side by side, coach Lee intends to give one more chance each in the exhibition game that will continue until the 18th and make the final decision on the fifth selection.

Attention is focusing on who will be the main character to solve the final puzzle of the SSG selection team.