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In professional baseball, the remarkable turnaround of KIA Tigers pitcher Lee Eui-lee, who previously struggled with chronic control issues, is becoming a major hot topic. After completing a training stint in Japan, he has transformed into the ultimate relief pitcher, boasting fastball velocity at the highest level ever seen by a left-hander along with solid control.

Reporter Lee Seonghun has the details.

[Reporter]

Until May, Lee Eui-lee faced the worst crisis of his baseball career.

His already shaky control worsened further, recording the highest walk rate among starting pitchers in the league, while his ERA approached double digits.

As a desperate measure during the season, he took a short-term training trip to a recently popular pitching training center in Japan, and this turned out to be a stroke of genius.

Upon returning to the first team in July, Lee's fastball reached a maximum velocity of 158 kilometers per hour.

His average velocity jumped by nearly 5 kilometers compared to the first half of the season to surpass 153 kilometers per hour. This is even faster than the previous record of 152.6 kilometers per hour for a left-hander, set by Gamboa, who played for the Lotte Giants last year and advanced to the big leagues this year.

As he increased the usage of his drastically enhanced fastball—the strongest ever for a left-handed pitcher—his strike rate rose in tandem. With opposing hitters no longer able to simply wait for balls and forced to swing more often, his walk rate plummeted by half, dropping below the league average.

Having simultaneously captured velocity and control, Lee is dominating opposing batting lineups with a 1.64 ERA across 9 appearances in the second half of the season, and has now been promoted as the guardian angel of the KIA bullpen.

Last Tuesday, he cleanly struck out three key left-handed batters from the Samsung Lions to pick up the first save of his career, and followed up in a game against the Doosan Bears by retiring the heart of the opponent's batting order in 1-2-3 fashion to protect a one-run lead and earn another save.

[Lee Eui-lee / KIA Pitcher: I am so happy to be able to take on the closer role, and as long as it helps the team, I want to pitch in any position. Thinking about putting in a bit of extra effort to shut down just one inning helps me focus better, and I think it's working out well.]

With Jung Hae-young and Sung Young-tak struggling and leaving the closer position as a dilemma for the team, the KIA Tigers have reinforced their bullpen through Lee Eui-lee's dramatic transformation, gaining momentum in their fierce battle for third place against the LG Twins and Doosan Bears.

(Video Editing: Ha Sung-won)