Yang Hyeon-jong (35, KIA Tigers) is unable to escape from the swamp of sluggishness. It is also unclear whether it will achieve the record of ‘consecutive seasons’. Yang Hyeon-jong started in the home game against Kiwoom Heroes in the 2023 KBO League held at Kia Champions Field in Gwangju on the 15th, but struggled with 6 hits (1 home run), 4 walks and 7 runs in 5 and 1/3 innings. KIA lost 6-9, and Yang Hyeon-jong suffered his 7th loss (5 wins) of the season.
Yang Hyeon-jong, who had been scoreless until the 3rd inning, allowed a left-handed double to Jeon Byeong-woo and a walk to Kim Dong-heon in the 2nd out and 1st base, and after being put on full base, he gave up a full count match with Kim Jun-wan and even gave up a walk, giving 1 point first. Then, Kim Hye-seong, who was facing the opponent, allowed a superior home run with a 141km/h four-seam fastball (fastball) driven to the center in the second pitch. He gave up 5 points in no time.
Yang Hyeon-jong, who finished the 4th inning without additional runs and endured the 5th inning, passed the mound to Kim Ki-hoon after getting a walk and a hit from Kim Dong-heon and Kim Jun-wan in the 6th and 2 outs, respectively. The relief pitcher allowed his two runners to score and the runs increased to ‘7’. Yang Hyeon-jong also gave up 8 points in 2 innings against the LG Twins in Gwangju on the 8th, when the game was rained out. 1st Hong Chang-ki, 2nd Mun Seong-joo, 3rd Kim Hyeon-soo ‘left hit line’ 3 hits in a row by three batters. Even in the ensuing situation, he allowed an additional 4 runs on 3 hits and a sacrifice fly. In the second inning, he was again hit by LG’s top lineup hitters and gave 3 more points.
After this game, KIA coach Kim Jong-guk diagnosed Yang Hyeon-jong’s poor pitch as a result of poor physical strength. However, after a break on the 6th, he struggled in the Kiwoom match. Yang Hyeon-jong failed in 6 consecutive quality starts (QS, 6 innings or more and 3 earned runs or less) after the KT Wiz match on June 24th. He never played more than 6 innings in a game. The relatively strong left-handed hitter has also changed. In the first half, he had a weak hit rate of 0.364 against right-handed hitters, but recorded 0.229 against left-handed hitters. As of the 15th, his batting average against left-handed hitters rose to 0.240. He scored 0.289 in three games in the second half.
His fastball pitch fell, and there were also misspellings driven into the middle. Previously, a slider that showed an inside fastball and fell to the outside low course worked, but this doesn’t work very well. Yang Hyeon-jong is a pitcher with a career record of 164 wins. 먹튀검증 He is second all time. Based on starting wins, it is 162 wins. If he adds just two wins, he can surpass Song Jin-woo, former coach of the Hanwha Eagles, who has the most wins (163 wins).
Achieving this record is only a matter of time. However, there was a cloud over the extension of the record of ‘consecutive seasons’, in which single-season performance works. Yang Hyeon-jong played more than 170 innings with a double-digit multiplier for eight consecutive seasons from the 2014 season to the 2022 season (excluding the 2021 season when he entered the US stage). It was a symbolic record as a starting pitcher. Yang Hyeon-jong has shown a strong will to challenge the record of achieving 10 wins in 10 consecutive seasons, which was the only KT Wiz coach Lee Kang-cheol. He also cited the number of innings as his most important record.
KIA delayed 16 games due to rain. KIA’s remaining game schedule is bound to be tight. It is expected that Yang Hyeon-jong will be able to play up to 10 games if he consistently digests the remaining schedule selection rotation for his team, where he played 94 games. As of the 15th, Hyunjong Yang’s winning rate was 0.417, and the average innings in the last 6 games was ‘5’. Yang Hyeon-jong appeared in 19 games and earned 5 wins (7 losses) by digesting 106 1/3 innings. If you predict the rest of the season based on the previous 19 game record, it is difficult to achieve 10 wins or break through 170 innings.
Yang Hyeon-jong gave 9 points and 7 points, respectively, in the match against the Lotte Giants on June 2 and the match against SSG Landers on the 7th, but found stability again. Attention is focusing on whether Yang Hyeon-jong’s achievement of the great record will continue.