The Samsung Lions team will reunite with Eiji Ochiai, head coach and pitching coach of the Chunichi Dragons, former Futures (second team) coach, at the spring camp in Okinawa, Japan.
Samsung has a chance to show their growth as well as a welcome reunion with the players directly coached by head coach Junichi Ochiai, as all players from the 1st and 2nd teams will participate in the spring camp in Okinawa, Japan this year.
The Samsung team will depart through Incheon International Airport on the 30th and 31st. A total of 111 people, including players, coaching staff, and front desk, head to Onna Village, Okinawa, Japan. The team will conduct full-scale training in Okinawa for 40 days from February 1st to March 10th.
Like last year’s finish camp, a more intense training schedule than previous years is scheduled. In addition, a total of 10 practice matches will be held in Japan with Japanese professional clubs and domestic teams. First of all, on February 9th, we will have an away practice match against the Nippon Ham Fighters, and after a day off, we will play two practice matches against Chunichi on the 11th and 12th, home (Akama Stadium) and away. On the 19th, he will play an away game against the Hanshin Tigers, and on the 28th, he will play a home practice game against the Lotte Giants, who are coming to Okinawa for their second spring camp. After that, they will play against the Kia Tigers on March 1st, the Yomiuri Giants on the 4th, the Kia again on the 5th, and SSG Landers on the 6th, and finish the schedule with a practice match against the Hanwha Eagles on the 8th. Among them, practice matches held at Akama Stadium will be broadcast live through Samsung’s official YouTube channel.
While there is usually one game against a Japanese professional team, head coach Ochiai Chunichi had a lot of strength in playing two practice games against Chunichi. 안전놀이터
Coach Ochiai visited Akama Stadium in person when Samsung went to Okinawa finishing camp last year and exchanged greetings with manager Park Jin-man and coaches and players and talked about the training schedule for spring camp.
At the time, pitching coach Jung Hyun-wook suggested to Coach Ochiai, “Please look at the Samsung pitching staff, let’s set up a practice game schedule with Chunichi next year,” but it was accomplished as the spring camp went normally.
Coach Ochiai said that he is still watching the faces of the Samsung players. If we reunite with the players at this spring camp, it is expected that they will motivate and inspire us again by sharing stories that we have not shared in the past.
Meanwhile, Samsung has confirmed the coaching staff to accompany the players this season. First of all, coach Lee Byeong-gyu was named as the head coach to assist coach Park Jin-man in the first team, and coach Jung Hyun-wook and coach Park Han-i will lead the pitcher and batting parts, respectively, following last year.
Japanese coaches are also newly added. Coach Tabata, who will be in charge of the Futures pitching part, completed his career as a player at Yomiuri and has been coaching at Yomiuri and Yakult since 2012. Coach Tachibana, who will lead the Futures batting team, played for Seibu and Hanshin, and since 1998 has been active as a coach at Softbank and Rakuten. Coach Naito also joins the conditioning part.
The upbringing team is led by Coach Hee-Soo Park, Coach Jeong-Hyeok Kim, and Coach Byung-Gon Jeong. Coach Bae Young-seop supports the batting part in the first team, and coach Park Chan-do is in charge of running and outfield for the Futures. In addition, Samsung plans to finalize the salary negotiations for the players prior to the start of the spring camp and announce them as soon as possible.