Son Hyuk
Overview
Son Hyuk (손혁, born January 4, 1977) is a South Korean former professional baseball player, baseball coach, and broadcasting commentator. During his playing days he was a submarine (underhand) pitcher for the LG Twins, and after retirement he moved through power-analysis and coaching roles to become the seventh manager of the Kiwoom Heroes. He is regarded as a manager who values data and analysis, and is counted among the figures representing the generational shift in the KBO League.
Main Content
Birth and School Years
Born in Seoul, Son Hyuk graduated from Shinil High School, a baseball powerhouse, where he stood out as a pitcher. Even then he had an unusual sidearm-style delivery rather than a conventional overhand one, which became his trademark in the pros as well. His stable control and game-management ability during his high school years drew the attention of professional scouts.
Playing Career
Son Hyuk joined the LG Twins through the rookie draft in the late 1990s and played for LG from 1999 into the mid-2000s, moving between the bullpen and the starting rotation. His strengths were the low release point characteristic of a submarine pitcher and an aggressive approach to pitching, and he was often tasked with holding the mound even when the team was in difficult situations. However, injuries and inconsistency made it hard for him to secure a steady everyday role, and he wrapped up his active career around the late 2000s.
Coaching Career
After retirement, Son Hyuk moved straight into coaching. Starting with power-analysis work for the LG Twins and then serving as a coach, he built up his analytical and data-utilization skills, and later moved to the Nexen Heroes (now the Kiwoom Heroes), where he took on roles as pitching coach and in power-analysis-related positions. During this period he earned internal trust for his style of meticulously managing each player's pitching data and analyzing opposing batters' tendencies.
Managerial Career
Appointed manager of the Kiwoom Heroes ahead of the 2018 season, Son Hyuk led the team to the upper ranks of the regular season in 2019 and guided them into the postseason. He was noted for actively giving young players opportunities and for emphasizing situational matchups and data-based management rather than relying on particular players. However, as the team's results fell short of expectations in the 2020 season, he stepped down as manager mid-season, taking responsibility for the poor performance. Although his tenure was short, there are assessments that he had a certain influence on the later spread in the KBO League of analytical baseball and the trend of appointing young managers.
Commentator and Broadcasting Activities
After resigning as manager, Son Hyuk worked as a baseball commentator, presenting game-analysis content across a variety of channels including television and YouTube. As a commentator equipped with both field experience and analytical capability, he was well received for explaining pitching management, defensive shifts, and data-based strategies in an easy-to-understand way. He has also shared his experience as a coach through various baseball-related interviews and lectures.
Latest Trends
In 2024–2025, the KBO League is in the midst of major trends: the expansion of data-analysis staff, the deepening division of labor among pitchers, and the recruitment of young managers and front-office talent. Son Hyuk is frequently mentioned as a figure who symbolically embodies these trends, and as a manager-turned-commentator he continues to point out the league's tactical changes and player-development systems. In particular, as the introduction of club-level power-analysis teams and tracking systems becomes commonplace, the value of coaches who are former players yet possess analytical capabilities is being re-examined. Furthermore, as each club increasingly treats communication skills and data-utilization ability as important criteria in the manager-hiring process, the possibility that he may return to the field again remains a topic of interest in the baseball world.
Related Topics
- [[Kiwoom Heroes]]
- [[LG Twins]]
- [[KBO League]]
- [[Submarine pitcher]]
- [[Baseball commentator]]