With the growth of the two players, I think we’ve also found some time to spare for (Yoon) Young-chul or James (Nail) to come back.”
Hwang Dong-ha and Kim Do-hyun are the hidden players in this year’s KIA Tigers regular league championship. KIA had been plagued by a string of injuries to its starting players throughout the season, with the two players showing rapid growth to minimize the void.메이저사이트
The evil spirit of injury has plagued Kia’s starting lineup since the beginning of this year’s season. It started with Will Crow. Since then, all four players including Lee Eui-ri, Yoon Young-cheol and Nail have been away due to injury. Yang is the only player who has been keeping the starting lineup since the opening of the regular season.
Fortunately, Kia had Hwang Dong-ha and Kim Do-hyun. Hwang Dong-ha, who was called by Kia as the 65th overall player in the seventh round of the second round in 2022, is a right-handed pitcher who made his debut in the first division last year. At that time, he played in 13 games (31.1 innings), with three losses and an ERA of 6.61.
During the offseason, Hwang Dong-ha made efforts to improve his skills. At the Seattle Drive Line Baseball Center in the U.S., he balanced his pitching and corrected details of his breaking ball.
Hwang Dong-ha, who briefly played in the second division after serving as a bullpen pitcher in the early days of this season, was substituted for the first time in the game against the LG Twins on April 27 after Crow and Lee Eui-ri were out of the lineup due to injuries. At that time, his performance was rather sluggish, allowing five runs in 3.2 innings.
Hwang, however, quickly adapted to the starting position. He had two wins and one loss with a 3.81 ERA in five games in May. He showed somewhat ups and downs in June and July, but he firmly kept the starting lineup of Kia with two losses and a 4.15 ERA in five games in August. His record in two games in September was one win and a 0.90 ERA.
Kim Do-hyun is also one of the hidden contributors. Called the 33rd overall in the second round of the fourth round in 2019, Kim moved to Kia in exchange for right-handed Lee Min-woo and outfielder Lee Jin-young at the beginning of the 2022 season, and joined the team as an active player in the middle of the season. Throughout the 2022 season, Kim had played in 47 games (139.1 innings), recording 6 wins and 12 losses with an ERA of 6.33.
Kim, who has appeared in the first division since May, was selected as a substitute when Yoon Young-chul was removed from the first division entry due to a fatigue fracture in his spine in July. Since then, he has continued to rotate as a starter, although he was not perfect. Unfortunately, he became a losing pitcher at the match against the Incheon SSG Landers on Thursday when Kia confirmed its regular league championship, but he has performed his part by allowing seven hits, one out and two strikeouts in five innings. So far, Kim has played in 34 games (68 innings) with three wins, six losses and three holds with an ERA of 5.43.
“It was very difficult to make a choice at such a time (when starting players would have been out due to injury). I thought a lot about which player to start, whether to make it a bullpen day, or whether to make him a player who can throw about five innings when (alternative) players start while thinking about a month or two,” coach Lee Bum-ho said during a recent meeting. “I think it was time for two players to grow up.”
Manager Lee then encouraged Hwang Dong-ha and Kim Do-hyun, saying, “Because of our good offense, we are in a situation where pitchers who are starting can throw comfortably in their minds. Although we didn’t get many wins and only played four to five innings and came out quickly, the two players seem to have grown up. Due to the growth of the two players, I think we have also found time for (Yoon) Young-chul or James (Nail) to return,” adding, “They won a lot of games they played. I hope it will be a season where those players will continue to develop further.”