Nearly 20 years as a bullpen pitcher. A record that will be hard to break for decades to come. ‘Living Legend’ Jung Woo-ram of the Hanwha Eagles is about to make history.
He is on track to become the first pitcher in KBO history to appear in 1,000 games. Until June 26, Jung had played in 998 career games. He already holds the record for most games played, and with two more games to go, he’ll be the first pitcher in history to reach 1,000.
For the time being, no one will be able to surpass Jung’s record. The second record for most games played by a pitcher is held by the now-retired Ryu Taek-hyun (LG). Ryu appeared in 901 games, followed by Cho Ung-chun (813 games) and Chung Hae-yeom (800 games). All of these pitchers are retired.
Among active pitchers, Jin Hae-soo (LG) is the closest to Chung’s record. Until the age of 26, Jin had appeared in 788 games. However, he is more than 200 games behind Jung, so it’s not easy to catch up in three seasons.
If the 1986-born pitcher doesn’t overturn it during his career, Jung’s 1,000-game mark will likely be “stuffed” for the foreseeable future. The next active pitcher after Jin is Samsung’s Woo Kyu-min, born in 1985, who has appeared in 755 games. There are no more veteran active pitchers who can reach 1000 games.
It is possible that this 20-year record will not be broken for another 20 years as young pitchers become veterans.
The reason why Jung’s record is so impressive is because the most games pitched by a pitcher is more favorable to bullpen pitchers than to starters, and bullpen pitchers have to consistently pitch a lot of games without getting injured. Jung joined the SK Wyverns (now the SSG Landers) in 2004 as a high school rookie and became a first-team bullpen arm the following year. In 2006, his third year as a professional, he appeared in 82 games in a single season, the most by an individual in a single season.
Since moving to the Hanwha Eagles, Jung has continued to serve as a back-end reliever, appearing in 23 games last year and 46 games this year, and has been a stalwart in the bullpen for more than two decades.스포츠토토
Jung’s record for most games pitched is unlikely to be broken anytime soon. Usually, bullpen pitchers don’t last 10 to 20 seasons, and they have to perform well to be able to travel frequently. They also need to be injury-free. In recent years, bullpen pitchers have been discouraged from pitching more than three games in a row, and baseball has become a thoroughly divided and managed game, making it virtually impossible to pitch as often as Jung Woo-ram did in his prime.