“It was a game that was dominated by pitching with the best pitching.”
Park Jin-man (47), head coach of the Samsung Lions, smiled. Last year’s seventh-place team, Samsung, which took second place in the demonstration game and aimed for a rebellion, ended up in eighth place, only disappointing. It is because the ace, who had fallen endlessly, came back perfectly at the moment when the concerns were growing over the line injury of the main players.
Baek Jung-hyun스포츠토토 (36) pitched 93 pitches in 8 innings in a 2023 Shinhan Bank SOL KBO League visit match against Kiwoom Heroes held at Gocheok Sky Dome in Guro-gu, Seoul on the 18th, giving up 3 hits, 6 strikeouts and 1 run. He pitched perfect in 7⅓ innings. No matter what anyone says, the main character of Gocheok Sky Dome that day was Baek Jeong-hyeon.
It gave a foreboding of the birth of a perfect pitcher, which had never appeared in the 42-year history of the KBO League, but one gesture was regrettable. In the 8th inning with one out, Edison Russell reached for a ground ball, but the ball hit his glove and was deflected, becoming an infield hit. He was recorded as a hit, not an error, and even a no-hit, no-run was broken. He lightly handled the next hitter Lee Ji-young with a double stroke and finished the 8th inning, leaving a deep regret.
Baek Jung-hyeon, who also took the mound in the ninth inning, gave up consecutive hits as if he was weak. He gave up 1 run, and even the successor runner stepped on the home run, increasing the run to 2, but became the first pitcher to win after 2 losses.
After an interview with a broadcaster, when he headed to the dugout, fans cheered for Baek Jung-hyun. One male fan even sent generous encouragement, saying, “I was moved by Baek Jung-hyun’s pitching.” Fans who waited for him until the end chanted his name.
Director Park Jin-man was the person to be more delighted with than anyone else. After the game, he said, “It was a game that Baek Jung-hyun overwhelmed with the best pitching,” and praised him, “He played long innings with explosive pitches and pitched to help the team.”
Baek Jung-hyun, who unfortunately missed the perfect game, said, “It was a dream since I was a child.”
It wasn’t that he wasn’t in particularly good condition or that he didn’t have any mistakes, but as the innings ended with repeated triplets, he thought it was a lucky day. Regarding the situation where Perfect was broken, Baek Jung-hyun said, “Because the team’s victory comes first, luck follows, so I tried to throw it as aggressively as possible.” He also showed consideration for his colleagues.
After spending a career high season in 2021 with 14 wins and 5 losses and an ERA of 2.63, he signed a 4-year, 3.8 billion won free agent (FA) contract with Samsung. He was sluggish even in the exhibition game, and collapsed with 5 runs in 2 innings in the first game of the season. However, on the 12th, it rebounded with 1 run in 5 innings against SSG Landers, and it revived perfectly that day. It was like seeing 2021 years.
Baek Jung-hyun looked back on the past and said, “I continued to research to find the cause of (sluggishness). So I looked back at things like diaries when I was good, and I also studied how good pitchers pitched.”
Recently, pitchers with ‘light speed balls’, who throw balls that exceed 150 km/h and reach 160 km, are also appearing. A fastball craze is blowing around the world. On this day, Baek Jung-hyun’s fastball was 138km/h. However, Baek Jeong-hyeon did not accept this simply as a number. “Looking at pitchers like that, it’s not just that the ball is fast, so the results are good, but they throw better each course,” he said. told
You can’t fight the same as them. He had his own solution. Baek Jung-hyun said, “In the end, it seems to be control power again. Because I was conscious of speed, I tried to throw it with power, and it seemed that the purpose of the ball was lost.” It seems to have continued,” he explained.
One of the things that makes a pitcher’s fastball that doesn’t hit the ball look more powerful is the pace control. Baek Jung-hyun got 6 strikeouts by mixing up his changeup properly that day. Four of them were changeups, and thanks to that, the power of fastballs was further doubled, and even with ‘not fast balls’, he was able to catch two strikeouts.
Baek Jung-hyun said, “I threw a lot of sliders in the last game, so (Kang) Min-ho asked me to throw a changeup this time.” I think that’s why I saved it because I was biting my tail.”
After spending 13 seasons, Baek Jung-hyun, who finished second in ERA in the league in 2021, crashed again last year. Failure after his one success made him even harder. This is the reason why his dazzling pitching while looking at perfect pitching does not seem to be a coincidence.