The Hanwha Eagles is eying the autumn season of the Korean pro baseball league. The fact that a team that had fallen far from the ranking battle at this time of year has not been pushed back so far is a remarkable change. This situation cannot be explained except for the effect of ace pitcher Ryu Hyun-jin (37).안전놀이터
Hanwha made three consecutive wins at the Munhak SSG match on the 16th and 18th, properly reviving the spark of the 5th round. Hanwha, ranked seventh with 52 wins, 59 losses and 2 draws (winning rate .468) since the match against Samsung in Daejeon on the 23rd of last month, has narrowed the gap with fifth-ranked SSG (56 wins, 58 losses, 1 draw, .491) to 2.5 games. It also followed sixth-ranked KT (55 wins, 59 losses, 2 draws, and .482) by 1.5 games.
It is unfamiliar to Hanwha that the team is competing in the fall baseball league until the point when it played 113 regular season games. Since 2018, the last year of its advance to the postseason, the Hanwha Eagles has been at the bottom of the list every year, serving as spectators of ranking fights.
Based on 113 games, Hanwha ranked 10-10-10-10-9 for five years from 2019 to 2023.
In 2019, the team had 43 wins and 70 losses (winning rate .381), trailing fifth-ranked NC by 13 games. In 2020, the team was in 10th place with 33 wins, 78 losses and 2 draws (winning rate .297), a whopping 27 games behind fifth-ranked Doosan. In 2021, the team was also 13.5 games behind fifth-ranked Kiwoom with 40 wins, 65 losses and 8 draws (winning rate .381), and in 2022, the team was also away from fifth-ranked KIA with 35 wins, 76 losses and 2 draws (winning rate .315), a 20.5 game gap behind fifth-ranked KIA.
Last year, the team had 45 wins, 62 losses and 6 draws (.421 win rate), 12 games behind fifth-ranked KIA. Rather, it focused on preparing for next season by fighting for the last place, trailing 10th-ranked Kiwoom by two games.
Every summer was a time when Hanwha lost its strength. As the players were not thick and the players were highly dependent on the main players, their performance in the summer, when they were exhausted, was inevitably deteriorated. According to the monthly performance in August, the team ranked eighth in 2019, 10th in 2020, 6th in 2021, tied for 9th in 2022, and 10th last year, showing lackluster performance in the heat.
This year, however, he ranked third with nine wins and six losses in 15 games (winning rate .600) in August, gaining strength in the summer. He has been steadily recruiting outside free agents over the past few years, and is benefitting from the growth of young players who have had experience in increasing his depth.
The biggest difference from the past five years is the existence of a clear ace, Ryu Hyun-jin, who returned from the Major League after 12 years. Ryu Hyun-jin, who won the match against Munhak SSG on the 18th with six hits, one walk, eight strikeouts, and one run in six ⅓ innings, pitched 131 ⅓ innings in 23 games this year, recording 7-7 losses and 113 ERA with 3.97 strikeouts. Although there are ups and downs compared to his heyday, he is still the most reliable ace in Hanwha.
The fact that he throws the most innings as the only pitcher in his team is a huge boost to Hanwha. The starting lineup of Hanwha is not going well this year due to injuries and sluggishness of foreign pitchers, season out following Kim Min-woo’s elbow surgery, and growing pains of young guns such as Moon Dong-ju, Hwang Joon-seo and Kim Ki-joong. Ryu’s continued retention of the starting rotation without canceling the entry contributed to supporting the mound. In 23 games when Ryu played, Hanwha had 12 wins, 10 losses and 1 draw (winning rate .545), which is almost 10 percent higher than the winning rate of 4.449 on the day when he did not play.
With Ryu Hyun-jin supporting the starting lineup, the bullpen has established a must-win group with Kim Seo-hyun’s growth, Park Sang-won, Han Seung-hyuk, and Joo Hyun-sang. On the fielders’ side, players such as Kim Tae-yeon, Lee Do-yoon, and Jang Jin-hyuk, who have been raised by Hanwha’s own development, led by Chae Eun-sung and An Chi-hong, who recruited FA for two years, have grown to become the main players.
Hanwha manager Kim Kyung-moon, who took the helm during the season, is also encouraging players to get motivated by giving them trust and encouraging them to compete with each other with appropriate carrots and sticks. He is also a master of mercenaries who push ahead with the game as soon as it is judged to be the outcome of the match. Since Kim’s inauguration, Hanwha has ranked fourth with 28 wins, 27 losses and 1 draw (winning rate of .509).
Hanwha is scheduled to play against Cheongju NC and Jamsil Doosan this week. It is a chance to continue its good mood against NC, which has lost the most 10 consecutive games since its foundation. Moon Dong-ju will start the first of three consecutive games against NC on Tuesday.