The professional baseball Hanwha Eagles will recruit Yang Sang-moon (63), former Lotte Giants manager, as a pitching coach. The personnel appointments were made at the request of manager Kim Kyung-moon (65), and former manager Yang Sang-moon will enter the Hanwha dugout as a first-team pitching coach from the second half of the year. As soon as the contract is completed, there will be an official announcement from the club. He will assist manager Kim Kyung-moon from the game against Kiwoom in Gocheok on the 9th, the first game of the second half. 룸알바

Kim Kyung-moon, who took office as Hanwha's new head coach on March 3, made changes over the past month. When he was appointed, he maintained the existing coaching staff to minimize agitation among players due to sudden changes during the season. However, he conveyed his intention to reinforce the coaching staff even during the season, and decided to join the team with new head coaches and pitching coaches in time for the start of the second half of the year. 

Although the change was expected from the time Kim joined the team, no one knew Yang Sang-moon would join the team as a pitching coach. Yang is a "big man" who served as a three-time manager in the KBO League. He led the team at Lotte from 2004 to 2005, LG from 2014 to 2017, and Lotte from 2019 to display his rebuilding capabilities with his eyes and determination. 

He also had experience as the front manager of LG in 2018. Only six baseball players including Yang, former LG manager, Park Jong-hoon (LG manager, Hanwha general manager), Yeom Kyung-yeop (Nexen, SK manager, and SK general manager), Jang Jung-seok (Kium manager, KIA general manager), Son Hyuk (Kium manager, Hanwha general manager), and Lee Sung-yong (SSG manager, KT general manager). 

Yang is the first coach to return to the field as a coach after serving as both a coach and a general manager. It is not easy considering the age of mid-60s. Yang has great enthusiasm for the field, but it would have been impossible for him to return to the field if not for Kim Kyung-moon. 

Kim and former coach Yang did not have much contact on the professional stage. In 1990, when he was a player, Yang was a pitcher and Kim was a catcher for a year at the Pacific Dolphins. As a leader, he always stayed separate, and he spent a long time competing with each other as a coach of the opposing team. However, he has a personal relationship. It has been a long time since he was a senior and junior at Dongseong Middle School in Busan and Korea University. 

"I saw (former coach Yang) playing baseball at Daeyeon Elementary School since I was young. Then I met him at Dongsung Middle School and Korea University. We have been close together as younger brothers," Kim said. "He is doing great on TV right now, but it is best for a leader to teach players on the field. He must have missed the field. I am grateful that (former coach Yang) came. It is good for each other." 

Of course, Kim did not call Yang just because of his personal relationship. Yang is one of the leading pitching experts in Korean baseball and has a lot of experience as a pitching coach as well as a manager. Even after he stepped down as Lotte manager in 2019, he continued to learn the sense by checking the KBO league scene from close range as a commentator on SPOTV for the past four years from 2021. 

Hanwha has the largest number of promising players on the mound, with top prospects Moon Dong-ju, Kim Seo-hyun and Hwang Jun-seo joining the team for the third consecutive year. They are young and have unlimited potential, but they are not perfect pitchers yet. They are suffering from both large and small growth pains. "We have many young pitchers in our team. Our coaches have done well in some cases, and (Yang) will do well while asking questions," Kim said. 

Meanwhile, Kim announced that he will recruit a new head coach along with Yang. Former head coach Chung Kyung-bae and pitching coach Park Seung-min will move to Daejeon after the first half of the year ends until the match against KT on Sunday. "I feel sorry for coach Chung Kyung-bae and Park Seung-min. It's not that I didn't trust him, but I thanked him for his good work. Life is turning around, and I said sorry for the coach's decision, and I wanted him to understand," Kim said.