Sun Dong-ryul Becomes Samsung’s New Pitching Coach

The man who took the two Seoul home teams by storm, Sun Dong-ryul Sun, has changed his path towards Dae-gu.

Sun (40), a former public relations representative for the Korean Professional Baseball Association, signed a two year contract with Samsung to become it’s head pitching coach for an annual salary of 120 million won. Samsung’s former senior pitching coach Yoo Nam-ho’s annual salary of 120 million won was this year’s highest salary. This amount given to Sun is the most ever paid to a rookie coach in Korean professional baseball history. SK coach Cho Bum-hyun, Lotte coach Yang Sang-mun, and Doosan coach Kim Kyung-mun all received annual salaries of 10 million won each.

Sun agreed to Samsung’s offer most likely because if he had refused it and asked for more, then his possible future career as a coach could suffer because of a negative reputation. Sun stated, “It was very hard to see several teams argue over me. I apologize to my seniors.”

LG’s relatively inactive attitude towards recruiting Sun as pitching coach paved the way for Sun to head for Samsung so quickly. Sun met with his mentor, Samsung’s head coach Kim Eul-lyong, in the afternoon on October 11, and in the evening he met with Samsung’s president Shin Pil-ryul who concluded the recruiting process. As for LG, only club leader, Yoo Sung-min met with Sun.

Sun eventually went to the team which showed him the most interest. Sun ended up with a two-year contract and coincidentally, the end of Sun’s two-year contract meant the end of Samsung’s head coach, Kim Eul-lyong’s contract as well.

Both LG and Samsung were expecting major changes in their coaching staffs, but because Sun chose to go to Samsung, both teams have been able to avoid such complications. However, LG had promised Sun the position of head coach in a year because LG’s present head coach, Lee Kwang-hwan, is expected to retire next year. Therefore, LG has troubled times lying ahead next season because they will have to look for coaches skillful enough to fill in the expected open spots.

Hwan-Soo Zang zangpabo@donga.com