Since Sun Dong-yeol and Lim Chang-yong, there has been no “Sewon King” belonging to the KIA Tigers. A whopping 26 years of hiatus continued, and 23-year-old KIA guardian Jeong Hae-young has finished preparing to write a new history.먹튀검증
Jung Hae-young harvested two consecutive saves in two away games against the Samsung Lions on the 31st and 1st of last month.
Jung Hae-young, who recorded 27 and 28 saves, beat Oh Seung-hwan (Samsung, 27 saves) to become the sole leader in this category.
Jung, who is in his fifth year as a pro, is already in his fourth full-time completion season. Starting with 34 saves in 2021, his second year as a pro, he made 32 saves in 2022, 23 saves in 2023, and added 28 saves this year as well.
Despite his good performance, he has not been associated with the title for the past three years, but this year he is in a situation where he can challenge for the king of relief.
It didn’t seem easy as he left for about a month after suffering a shoulder injury at the end of the first half, but the energy is heading to Jung Hae-young again at the end of the season. Oh Seung-hwan, who was a “legend” closer and competed with Jung Hae-young this season, collapsed sharply in the second half of the year.
As of Tuesday, Oh had to resign from his position as the closing pitcher, slumping to two wins, three losses and three saves with an 8.25 ERA in 15 games in the second half of the year. He returned from the second division after serving as an adjustment period, but is still uneasy as he has lost points in two consecutive games against KIA. If this continues, chances are not high that Samsung will leave the back door to Oh again.
While Oh Seung-hwan has virtually reserved his position as the closing pitcher, his gap with other competitors is quite wide. Yoo Young-chan (LG) and Park Young-hyun, who are tied for third, have 22 saves, respectively, which is a six-save gap with Jung Hae-young. Given that there are less than 20 games left in the regular season, the team cannot catch up.
If Jung Hae-young becomes the king of relief as it is, it will be the first time in a long time for his team KIA to win the title.
KIA was a team that had the finishing pitcher representing the league including Sun Dong-yeol and Lim Chang-yong in the 1990s when it was Haitai. Sun Dong-yeol won the title of “relief king” in 1993 and 1995, and Lim Chang-yong in 1998.
At that time, the king of relief was judged not by the number of saves but by save points (saving wins + saves). Twenty years have passed since save points disappeared and only saves have been decided, but Kia has failed to produce a king of relief even after a long time has passed since its parent company changed.
It is not that KIA has not had a high-quality finish. Jin Pil-joong, who was recruited as an FA, Han Ki-joo, Yoo Dong-hoon, Kim Se-hyun, Yoon Seok-min, and Moon Kyung-chan performed well as finishing touches. There was a time when foreign pitchers such as Anthony and Asensio left the back door.
However, no one got the title of “King of Guwon,” but young Jung Hae-young, born in 2001, is on the verge of solving this long-cherished dream.
If Jung Hae-young becomes the king of relief, it will be the first time in 26 years since Lim Chang-yong as a member of the Tigers, and the first time since the team name was changed to the “KIA Tigers.”