KBO league representative ace Kim Gwang-hyun (35, SSG Landers) challenges common sense.
Kim Gwang-hyun achieved his first win of the season and his 150th win in the KBO League career in the 2023 KBO League home opening game against the KIA Tigers held at SSG Landers Field in Incheon on the 1st.
The process was not easy with 4 hits, 3 walks, 3 strikeouts and 1 run in 5 innings. In an interview after the game, as he himself admitted, he was not in good shape. All the hits he got in the first inning came from fastballs, and he even gave up runs. Then, the Kim Gwang-hyun-Lee Jae-won battery changed its strategy. Instead of a fastball that doesn’t work, he took a ball formulation that focuses on breaking balls. Even after that, except for the 5th inning, runners were sent out every inning, but as a result, no additional runs were allowed.
Of the 87 pitches thrown that day (30 changeups, 26 sliders, 23 fastballs, 8 curveballs), fastballs were the third lowest. Regarding this, Kim Gwang-hyun said, “I can use more breaking balls in the future, and I can use more fastballs. I’m trying to adapt to the situation.” You can throw more,” he replied.
If you think lightly, you can think of it as Kim Gwang-hyun’s desperate plan to make up for the fastball’s restraint and poor pitch with a breaking ball. This is because it was common knowledge in the baseball world to get an advantageous ball count with a fastball and use a breaking ball as a deciding ball. Because of that, there are many eyes that worry about Kim Gwang-hyun, who only throws breaking pitches. However, his transformation is in line with the latest trend in Major League Baseball, which has already begun to abandon the ‘inefficient’ fastball. 메이저사이트
Recently, in the major leagues, breaking the common sense that a starting pitcher must have at least three types of pitches, including a fastball, two-pitch starting pitchers equipped with a fastball and one breaking ball are gradually emerging. Kevin Gaussman (32, Toronto), who was selected as an All-Star in 2021 with a fastball (use rate 53%)-splitter (36%) as the main weapon, and a fastball (use rate 60%)-slider (31%) in the 2021 American League Representative examples include left-hander Robbie Ray (32, Seattle), who won the Cy Young Award, and Spencer Strider (25, Atlanta), who struck out 202 in 131⅔ innings last year with fastballs (67%) and sliders (28%).