Lotte Giants’ Jung Hyun-soo started in the away match of Game 16 of the season between the 2024 Shinhan Bank SOL Bank KBO League Kiwoom Heroes and the team at Gocheok Sky Dome in Seoul on the 30th, and reported his first victory in his debut with 82 pitches, one hit, one walk, and six strikeouts in five innings.먹튀검증
Chung Hyun-soo, who began to be known to baseball fans through the entertainment program “The Greatest Baseball,” was chosen by Lotte as the 13th overall pick in the second round of the rookie draft last year. Chung, who had never joined the first-team spring camp prior to this season, started the season in the second division and had a chance to take the mound in the first division against the Samsung Lions on Apr. 11, based on his outstanding performance. However, at the time, Chung was sluggish with one walk and one run (one earned run).
After moving down to the second division due to unfortunate pitching, Chung had his first start against the Kiwoom Heroes on June 23, only allowing one run (one earned run) on three hits, five outs, and two ⅓ innings. He also did not make an impressive pitch during the call-up in July. However, it was different against Kiwoom, which was his first appearance in August. At the time, Chung replaced Lee Min-seok, who left the mound early, and pitched a brilliant pitch with one hit and seven strikeouts during three ⅓ innings.
The next day, the head coach said, “I think I threw so well. I think I got the best performance I could have. I think I had the best pitching ever.” In fact, coach Kim Tae-hyung once found Chung Hyeon-su playing in the 2nd division. He liked Chung’s pitch very much, but he showed poor performance when he was called by the 1st division. Manager Kim Tae-hyung said, “I saw the pitch for the 2nd division and posted it because I liked it so much, but I couldn’t see it until then. Good reports have continued to come up. He threw up to 144 kilometers in speed. In the 1st division, however, the speed was only 137 kilometers, and he started from 2 to 3 balls. But this time, I think what he threw in the 2nd division came out the same way.”
Manager Kim Tae-hyung clearly expressed his intention to give Chung a chance to start the game, but the outcome of his previous game was disappointing. During three innings, he only allowed five hits, three outs and four runs (three earned) against the Lions. Immediately after the game, Kim also delivered a stinging message to Chung. “I don’t know how much I can throw, but throwing my ball is important. The content is more important than giving or not giving points. Eventually, the game should be managed,” he stressed. The result was the best.
Chung started the game in the first inning by allowing three strikeouts from the top of Kiwoom’s lineup, which includes Lee Ju-hyung, Kim Ha-seong, and Song Seong-moon. In the second inning, leadoff hitter Choi Joo-hwan was sent off due to a mistake by the first baseman, but he did not falter. Chung induced follow-up hitter Bae Sang-kwon to ground out to erase the leadoff runner, and threw 120 km curves to both Kim Jae-hyun and Jang Jae-young with “winning shots” to secure consecutive strikeouts. And Chung also struck out Kim Byung-hwi and Lee Ju-hyung in the bottom of the third inning, both of whom continued their flawless throws based on “three strikeouts” based on 119 km curves.
Chung Hyun-soo, who also took the mound in the fourth inning for the first time since taking the first team stage, quickly accumulated an out count by catching Kim Hye-sung with a fly ball to center field and Song Sung-moon with a straight hit to first base. However, when he gave up a walk to Choi Joo-hwan, his perfect pitching was flawed. However, he continued his solid pitching by tying Bae Sang-kwon to catcher foul fly, and allowed Kim Byung-hwi to make his first hit with a double in the fifth inning when there was no runner with two outs, but he secured the winning requirement by putting Kiwoom’s offense to rest without losing a point. He handed over the mound to Jin Hae-soo in the sixth inning and was replaced, and enjoyed the joy of his first win with strong support from the batters.
After the game, Lotte players were waiting for him to finish his interview with a broadcasting company. When he finished the interview, all the players poured onto the ground and congratulated him. Drenched in celebration from his teammates, Chung had an interview with reporters only after changing his clothes. “It’s so cold. I didn’t expect it to be this cold, but I think it’s colder because it’s a dome,” Chung said.
How do you feel about your first win? “When I first played baseball, my goal was to play in the Lotte Giants uniform at Sajik Stadium. But I feel so great to have my first win in that uniform and feel the emotional moment,” he said with a big smile. “My parents always say, ‘Let’s trust today.’ My parents were the first to come to my mind. Everyone wants to do well, but when you hit well, you catch well, and when you hit hard, you get hit well. I was able to win because I was leading the inning with hitters caught earlier.”
In the case of starting pitchers, they often move the day before when they are about to take the mound for the first time in an away game. Chung also arrived in Seoul on the previous day (29th) separately from the team. However, seeing his team play baseball until after midnight, I wanted to drag out as many innings as possible. He said, “Yesterday, I arrived at 9 a.m., and the game was at the beginning of the fourth inning. I thought it would end really late, but it was past 12. I thought I should prepare really well and pitch as long as possible.”
Since he had plenty of pitches and pitched so well, he must have been greedy to pitch in the sixth inning. “In the last game, he threw a lot of curves, so he pitched a lot. And he couldn’t control his ball early in the game. However, as I thought about reducing the number of pitches and throwing a lot of curves as strikes, I got a good result,” Chung said. “It is natural for a pitcher to pitch in the sixth inning. Then, the pitching coach said, “Let’s stop throwing.” I trusted him and came down.”