Hanwha announced the sudden resignation of manager Carlos Subero immediately after the Daejeon Samsung match on the 11th. Head coach Subero, who signed a three-year contract with Hanwha ahead of the 2021 season, packed up and left the country without completing the full contract period. All the foreign coaches who came with Subero have also changed hands.
At the time of recruiting coach Subero in 2021, Hanwha was a team that was in the lower ranks, and they wanted a planned rebuild during the three-year contract period of coach Subero. He had the idea of creating a team that could challenge the top five in the second year and the third year, which was better than the first year. But this didn’t work out as intended. Hanwha’s win rate in 2021 was 0.371, but last year it was 0.324, which fell further. And it struggled in April of this year as well.
Hanwha, who thought that young players had gathered to some extent, recruited three outside free agents (Chae Eun-seong, Lee Tae-yang, Oh Seon-jin) ahead of this season, and made it clear that they would now rise. I expected some degree of ‘achievement’ from coach Subero, not nurturing, but a mid-level leap. In particular, it is true that the performance of the first month of April was emphasized to change the team atmosphere and create momentum. It was a calculation that if you somehow persevered and spent April well, you could gain momentum from May.
However, it was an undeniable reality that coach Subero’s game management was somewhat different from the expectations of the front desk who wanted ‘April results’. The real team slumped to the bottom of the table, losing battles they could have won. This was the moment when Hanwha decided to say goodbye to coach Subero earlier.
The fact that coach Subero received a lot of criticism in terms of game management is proved by several records. Fans who do not like the timing and method of coach Subero’s dismissal agree to some extent. However, there is also a look of regret in that his patiently accumulated achievements over the past two years have been revealed little by little. Especially the mound. The number of fastball pitchers has increased, and the team mound has become more stable compared to the past two years.
Last year, Hanwha’s team average ERA (4.83) was significantly lower than the league average (4.06), and was in last place. However, this year (3.95) has improved to a level where there is not much difference from the league average (3.90). This is a pretty positive figure, considering that in fact, they have not been able to use a single foreign pitcher. The growth of young pitchers and new players who have been given opportunities steadily over the past two years is evident. In particular, the appearance of a large number of fastball pitchers stands out.
Hanwha has been the team with the slowest fastball velocity in the league. The velocity of veteran players continues to drop, which is why relatively fast players have been slow to emerge. But this year reads a completely different part. It has transformed into the team with the most domestic players who can throw more than 150 km per hour in the league.
This is also evident in the tally of ‘Trackman’, which provides tracking data to 9 KBO league teams. Moon Dong-ju broke the 160km wall by recording 161km (160.1km based on PTS) in the Gwangju KIA match on April 12th. Moon Dong-joo has the second fastest fastball average velocity 카지노사이트 as a starting pitcher after Ahn Woo-jin (Kiwoom).
The 160km wall was broken again by another Hanwha player. Kim Seo-hyun, a rookie this year, also recorded 160.7 km at the Samsung match in Daejeon on May 11th. Kim Seo-hyun is the player with the fastest average speed in this year’s league. According to Trackman standards, there are two players, including foreign players, who have exceeded 160 km/h this year, and both belong to Hanwha.
In addition, there are five more runners who have recorded the highest 150 km. Han Seung-hyeok recorded the highest of 155.3 km, Nam Ji-min of the highest 151.9 km, Park Sang-won of the highest of 151.8 km, Kim Beom-soo of the highest 151.5 km, and Yoon San-heum of the highest of 151.2 km. It’s not just that one ball was fast, but they are all players with average speed close to the late 140km range.
In the 3 consecutive matches against Incheon SSG held from the 12th to the 14th, a total of 4 players, including Moon Dong-ju, Kim Seo-hyun, Kim Bum-soo and Park Sang-won, recorded the maximum distance of more than 150 km. How far Hanwha’s speedup will go and how much that speedup will help the team’s winning baseball will be a point of observation to see the rest of Hanwha’s season.