“I’m supposed to be relaxed, but I’m nervous…”
KIA closer Jung Hae-young (22) set another Tigers first. He pitched one inning of one-hit, one-strikeout ball against Gwangju Samsung Electronics on Aug. 8 to earn his 20th save of the season. It was his third consecutive 20-save season, following 34 saves in 2021 and 32 saves in 2022.
It is the first record for a pure Tiger. Chang-Yong Lim (retired) had 26 saves in 1997, 34 in 1998, 38 in 1999 and 30 in 2000. He had 20 saves four years in a row and 30 saves three years in a row. However, he was traded to Samsung in 1999, so he is the only Tigers closer with two straight 20-save seasons.
Jung had the Tigers’ first back-to-back 30-save seasons last year, and through eight games, the Tigers have at least three consecutive 20-save seasons. This year, the Tigers struggled throughout the first half of the season, which prevented them from reaching 30 saves for the first time in three years. However, three consecutive 20-save seasons is still significant. It’s not every day that a closer saves 20 saves in three consecutive years with a different organization.
Former manager Sun Dong-yeol has a strong image of being the best closer in the game, but surprisingly, he didn’t make 20 saves in back-to-back years. Aside from 31 and 33 saves in 1993 and 1995, he never had a 20-save season. Instead, he had three 20-win seasons and a whopping five 0-0 ERAs.메이저사이트
Jung had a title that even the greatest pitchers of the Tigers’ legendary era didn’t have, but he wasn’t one of them. Instead, she was self-critical. “I didn’t finish cleanly today and ended up with an error. But the defense helped me. I’m not satisfied. I don’t have many satisfying saves this year,” she said.
For Jung, it’s all about the pitching. In fact, of her 20 saves this season, nine have come without leaving a runner on base. In the other 11, he allowed at least one runner to reach base on a hit or walk and then closed out the game without allowing the tying or winning runs to score. Eight games had two runners on base.
A save is a save is a save. However, Jung said, “I should be relaxed, but I’m not. I recently talked to my dad (former KIA head coach Chung Ho-yeol). He said, “You have to keep this season well and start anew from next year. I think I need to change myself, from the big picture to planning for next year.
The KBO is also seeing an increase in fastball pitchers in the low 150s. Jeong Jung-young, who competes with vertical movement and ball rotation in the low 140s, tends to get a lot of foul cuts from hitters. However, if he can’t increase his velocity, he needs to improve his survivability by adding more pitches. Currently, Jung mixes his fastball with a splitter and a slider.