South Korean Asian Games baseball manager Ryu Joong-il said Saturday his recent decision to cut a hard-throwing left-hander from the team was a particularly tough one.

Ryu had decided Friday to drop Lee Eui-lee, southpaw ace for the Kia Tigers in the Korea Baseball Organization (KBO), from the Hangzhou-bound national team. The move came one day after Lee returned from a 12-day absence brought on by a blister on his finger.

Lee gave up five runs on two hits, two walks and a hit-by-pitch in only 1 1/3 innings against the Hanwha Eagles on Thursday. It only added to Lee's September woes: he has an unsightly 11.42 ERA in three September outings, covering 8 2/3 innings.

When healthy, Lee has been one of the KBO's brightest young pitchers. He represented South Korea at the Tokyo Olympics in 2021 as a rookie and made the national team again this spring for the World Baseball Classic.

After the KBO announced the roster change, the Tigers contended that Lee had no outstanding physical issues. Before the national team's first practice Saturday, Ryu said he didn't think Lee would be able to go deep into games as a starter.

"It's unfortunate we had to cut him at the last minute," Ryu told reporters at Gocheok Sky Dome in Seoul. "I saw him get pulled early because of a blister a couple of weeks ago and then checked his finger again a week later. People may view this differently, but I didn't think he could pitch effectively for us.

"At the moment, I had doubts about whether he could throw 70 to 80 pitches in his current condition," Ryu added. "He's one of the best left-handed pitchers in Korea today. But ultimately, I thought he wouldn't be able to throw more than 80 pitches as a starter."

After cutting Lee, Ryu named Lotte Giants outfielder Yoon Dong-hee as replacement, instead of selecting another pitcher.

"We only had three natural outfielders on the roster, and we were prepared to use one of our infielders in the outfield," Ryu said. "But then Yoon Dong-hee has been putting up some good numbers lately. So I decided to take him."

Yoon, a second-year pro, is batting .296 in September.

South Korea is a three-time reigning champion, and its path toward the fourth gold will likely go through Chinese Taipei and Japan.

Ryu said the best-case scenario for his team is to beat Chinese Taipei in the preliminary round to grab the top seed in the group and then take on Chinese Taipei again in the gold medal game.

"We'll go all-in on the first meeting against Chinese Taipei. We'll worry about the final when we get there," Ryu said. "I don't think we'll score a lot of runs. We have a good bullpen, and I think we should be able to win if we take a lead by a couple of runs."

Before replacing Lee, Ryu had cut another left-hander pitcher, Koo Chang-mo of the NC Dinos, who has been dealing with left forearm problems for months.

Ryu gave the remaining right-handers his vote of confidence, saying Gwak Been of the Doosan Bears and Park Se-woong of the Lotte Giants can both handle left-handed hitters well.

Ryu is managing in his second Asian Games, after guiding South Korea to gold on home soil in 2014. He said he delivered three messages to his team before Saturday's practice.

"I told them they should forget about the name on the back and instead feel proud of the word 'Korea' on the front of their jersey," Ryu said. "I also said we should all love and respect the game of baseball, and that we should all come together as one to win the gold medal."

Source: Yonhap News Agency