Yang Hyun-jong, Second Player in KBO History
Yang Hyun-jong is the second player in KBO history to win 170 games, and KIA has the club's minimum 20 wins.
Yang Hyun-jong (36, KIA Tigers), who was about to say “Beom-ho,” hurriedly covered his mouth and said, “I think 2017, when coach (Lee Beom-ho) was the 7th hitter, was stronger than now.”
This is the scene that took place in the KIA dugout on the day when KIA became the first to win 20 games in 7 years since 2017.
KIA won 13-2 in a visiting game against professional baseball Kiwoom Heroes held at Gocheok Sky Dome in Guro-gu, Seoul on the 25th, completing its 20th win (7 losses) of the season.
KIA's previous minimum record of 20 wins was 28 games achieved in 2017 and 1993.
KIA won the combined championship (regular season and Korean series championship) in both seasons (1993, the club name was Haitai).
This year, KIA won 20 games in 27 games, breaking the club's record for minimum 20 wins in a game. 온라인카지노사이트
On the day the club record was broken, the pitcher who guarded the mound was ‘the heart of the Tigers' Yang Hyun-jong.
Yang Hyun-jong gave up only 4 hits and 2 runs in 7 innings on this day.
He allowed only one walk and struck out six.
He achieved his second win (1 loss) of the season and the second in his KBO League career to reach 170 wins (114 losses).
There are only two pitchers with more than 170 wins in the KBO: Song Jin-woo (210 wins, 153 losses) and Yang Hyun-jong.
Yang Hyun-jong has 168 wins in the 'starter wins' rankings, and the gap with Song Jin-woo, who is second in starter wins (163 wins), is gradually widening.
Before the game, KIA Coach Lee Beom-ho said, "Yang Hyeon-jong's 170 wins is more important than the club's record of winning the minimum 20 games" and KIA enjoyed double joy as the team won and Yang Hyun-jong earned a starting win.
While Yang Hyun-jong was being interviewed on TV, KIA juniors prepared for 'water baptism'.
Yang Hyeon-jong, who noticed the juniors' movements, immediately removed his microphone and tried to run away to avoid the juniors, but was soon caught by the juniors.
Yang Hyun-jong, who met with reporters with his hair soaked, complained "Oh, I'm older now, so I can't stand up to my juniors," but added, "In some ways, 170 wins may not be a very important record, but it feels good to be celebrated like this.
The team has become one.
“I feel like it's done,” he said with a laugh.
It was encouraging that he pitched 7 innings for the first time this season while continuing to have quality starts (6 innings or more, 3 earned runs or less) for the last 4 consecutive games, but Yang Hyun-jong urged himself, “I have to get better.”
He said, "I was scolded by catcher Kim Tae-gun several times during the game today.
Tae-gun emphasized, 'If you throw harder, the balance of the pitch will improve and the tip of the ball will improve,' and I agreed," and "Tae-gun said I made a better pitch than today."
“I will do my best to please Taegun,” he said with a serious expression.
On this day, Yang Hyun-jong's highest speed for fastball was 143 km/h.
Even though Yang Hyeon-jong is not fast at speed, he can achieve a 'quality start' with a 'dancing' change-up and slider, but junior catcher Kim Tae-gun believes that Yang Hyun-jong can still beat his opponent with his pitches.
Yang Hyun-jong, who is not satisfied with 'the second ever record of 170 wins' and aims to 'break Song Jin-woo's 210 wins', is also listening carefully to the junior catcher's words for a 'long run'.
Yang Hyun-jong said, "It's a really difficult goal, but my life's goal is to surpass senior Song Jin-woo's record.
I will try to throw a better ball."
The way Kim Tae-gun looks at Yang Hyeon-jong, Yang Hyeon-jong sees KIA in 2024.
Yang Hyun-jong was a key player in KIA's combined championship in 2017.
That year, Yang Hyun-jong won 20 games (6 losses).
Coach Lee Beom-ho, who took charge of the KIA first team starting this year, also contributed to the batting lineup in 2017.
This season, KIA is leading the way with tremendous momentum.
However, Yang Hyun-jong said, "Our current batting line is really good, but it cannot be compared to 2017.
In 2017, the structure of our batting line was truly 'shocking' and good," and recalled '7th batter Lee Beom-ho.'
While reminiscing about 7 years ago, Yang Hyeon-jong accidentally said "Brother Beom-ho," and after hurriedly stopped speaking, he asked, "Coach Beom-ho Lee played as the number 7 hitter in 2017. How strong were numbers 1 to 6?"
In fact, Yang Hyun-jong's words contain a request to 'let's work harder to achieve a combined championship for the first time in 7 years.'
Yang Hyun-jong said, “We were first to win 20 games, but there will definitely come a time when we will stagnate during the long season,” and added, “We must become a stronger team to maintain first place.”
It is also a statement that contains the will to ‘become a stronger pitcher.'