Lee Soong-yong (52), former head of training at KT Wiz, takes command of the SSG Landers first team in professional baseball.
SSG announced on the 17th, “We have appointed Lee Soong-yong, former head of KT training, as the new head coach.”
New SSG coach Lee Soong-yong, who also served as KT general manager from 2019 to 2021 스포츠토토
is the sixth in KBO League history to join KBO game operations committee member Park Jong-hoon
LG Twins coach Yeom Kyung-yeop, current SPOTV commentator Yang Sang-moon, former KIA Tigers coach Jang Jeong-seok, and Hanwha Eagles general manager Son Hyuk.
He became a baseball player who worked as both general manager and manager.
Coach Lee Soong-yong, who began his professional career with the Pacific Dolphins in 1994, played for the Hyundai Unicorns and Heroes before retiring in 2011.
After the club went through a sale process, he changed the name, but coach Lee Soong-yong never moved the team.
He also won the Korean Series four times during the Hyundai era (1998, 2000, 2003, 2004).
His personal career records are 2,001 games, a batting average of 0.281 (1,727 hits in 6,139 at-bats), 162 home runs, and 857 RBI.
Manager Lee Soong-yong briefly left the dugout as a commentator in 2012 and 2013, and began his leadership career as KT’s hitting coach in 2014.
Coach Lee Soong-yong, who worked at KT for 10 years as a coach
general manager, and general manager of training, and enjoyed the joy of winning the team’s first championship in 2021, bid farewell to KT at the end of October this year.
SSG suddenly dismissed former coach Kim Won-hyung on the 31st of last month.
Former coach Won-hyung Kim was the last coach of SK and the first head coach of SSG.
He signed a contract to coach during his time at SK, but SSG soon took over SK.
Former coach Kim Won-hyung, who took command of the team in the 2021 season, failed to advance to the postseason by placing 6th in the first season (2021), but last year achieved the ‘Wire-to-Wire Regular Season Championship’ by maintaining first place from the opening day of the regular season to the end date. And they also won the Korean Series, completing the overall championship.
This year, they finished the regular season in 3rd place, lost to the NC Dinos in the semi-playoffs, and exited the fall stage.
SSG’s justification for dismissing former manager Kim Won-hyung, who had two years left on his contract, was ‘generational change’.
The SSG club explained the background to the dismissal of former coach Kim Won-hyung, saying, “We believed that change and innovation were necessary for a team that continues to develop,” and said, “We will focus on generational change, select a group of candidates, and go through the process of appointing a head coach.”
SSG’s choice was the new head coach Lee Soong-yong, who was the clubhouse leader during the Hyundai Dynasty and led KT to an emerging prestigious position.