You have to be careful about avoiding home runs.
KIA closer Jeong Hae-young has already written a new history as a Tigers closer in the 2022 season. In 55 games, he went 3-7 with 32 saves and an earned run average of 3.38. Following the 2021 season in which he recorded 5 wins, 4 losses and 34 saves with an ERA of 2.20 in 64 games, he became the first Tigers pitcher to record 30 saves for two consecutive years.
Lim Chang-yong won 34, 38, and 30 saves for메이저놀이터 three consecutive years from 1998 to 2000. However, in 1999, he traded with Yang Jun-hyeok to wear the Samsung uniform. Jung Hae-young was the first to record 30 saves for two consecutive years as a member of the Tigers.
In addition, he achieved the youngest 30 saves and the youngest career 50 saves, and this season, he is challenging the youngest career 100 saves (23 years, 10 months, 10 days). He has established a career record of 67 saves over three years, so if he only earns 33 saves this year, he will once again surpass Lim Chang-yong.
If you win only 30 saves with a healthy body, you will approach or exceed KIA closer history once again. After taking care of his health, Jung Hae-young should be most careful about avoiding home runs. Due to the nature of the finishing pitcher, a single home run directly affects the outcome of the game.
Sajik Stadium in Busan on the 28th. Jung Hae-young took the mound in the bottom of the ninth inning with a 6-5 lead. After one shot, the 141km fastball he used on Jeon Jun-woo became a heavy hit. The shortstop threw a body, but it slipped out of the field. Lee Ho-yeon was handled well with a foul fly to left field, but a 139 km fastball thrown to Ko Seung-min from 2nd out and 1st base went into the middle and led to a two-run four with superior finish.
Jung Hae-young is not a very fast pitcher. The fastball is formed in the early to mid 140km range. Instead, the greatest strength is that the extension is long and the vertical movement is good due to the high RBI. Even if it is the same ball in the early 140km, Jung Hae-young’s ball goes in more heavily.
There are sliders and splitters as breaking balls that support his fastball, but he uses the slider more. The perfection of the splitter is not relatively high. Therefore, if the fastball is driven to the center without clearly dispersing the attention of the hitters, there is a risk of hitting a finishing home run like today. It’s fine if he’s in good shape and the command is what the catcher wants, but he can’t do that every day.
Jung Hae-young gave up 10 career home runs in the regular season after his debut. He had 5 in the 2021 season and 3 in the 2022 season. He can’t be said to be a lot, but as a closer, reducing home runs is good in many ways. Jung Hae-young was properly vaccinated during the final match of the exhibition game. The performance of this exhibition game was 1 loss, 1 save in 6 games, and the average ERA was 4.76.