Is stealing in front of this catcher a gamble? Lotte’s Son Sung-bin is picking off opponents with his laser-like delivery. He stunned everyone with his major league-calibre performance.
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LG’s Moon Bo-kyung tries to steal second base, and Lotte’s catcher Son Sung-bin throws a ‘laser throw’.
The ball arrives so fast that the second baseman has plenty of time to see the sliding runner and tags him out.
It’s clocked at 133.1 kilometres per hour, which is pretty fast considering most other catchers are in the low 120s.
As a result, his “pop time” – the time it takes for the ball to be received, thrown, and reach the second baseman’s glove – was just 1.86 seconds.
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Last month, LG was even faster.
They caught a stolen base in 1.82 seconds with a throw of 138.3 kilometres per hour.
In the major leagues, a pop time of 1.9 seconds or less is considered top-notch.
For six years now, the top spot in that category has been held by Philadelphia catcher Realmuto, who is 0.01 seconds ahead of Son’s best time this season.
And that’s with accuracy.
Since returning to the team in June, Son Sung-bin has a 100 per cent stolen base rate.
Yesterday, he threw cold water on LG’s momentum to preserve the win.
Son Sung-bin, who joined Lotte in 2021 after winning the best catcher award in high school baseball, is competing fiercely with Yoo Kang-nam and Lee Jung-geun to add to the depth of Lotte’s catching staff.