Jang Si-hwan, a pitcher for the Hanwha Eagles whom we met last month at spring camp in Arizona, USA, said as if lamenting. It is a story worthy of nodding at Hanwha now.
Hanwha won 10-2 against Kiwoom Heroes in the 2023 Shinhan Bank SOL KBO demonstration game held at Daejeon Hanwha Life Insurance Eagles Park on the 18th. Hanwha maintained a joint lead with the LG Twins with 4 wins and 1 loss in demonstration games.
The average number of spectators for Hanwha’s home games last year was 4,975, but on this day, a whopping 5,078 people visited the baseball field. It was a daytime game on Saturday, but I heard the fans responding to Hanhwa, which will be different this year.
And Hanwha returned to expectations with a fastball parade. Second-year pitcher Moon Dong-ju, who started as a starting pitcher that day, recorded 4 hits (1 home run), 4 strikeouts, 2 walks and 1 run in 3 innings. The highest speed of the day was 157 km, and the average speed was 153 km.
The second pitcher, Yun San-heum, who came up after Moon Dong-joo went down from first base safely in the fourth inning, wildly threw the ball up to 150 km. And newcomer Kim Seo-hyun, who made the mound in the 7th inning, climbed the mound and threw a practice pitch for the first time, recording 154 km, making 5,000 spectators at Eagles Park tremble.
Kim Seo-hyun recorded a maximum of 156 km while perfect pitching with 2 strikeouts and no runs in 1 inning. On the 14th, he did not reach 158km against Daejeon KIA, but he threw a ball in the early and mid-150km and even showed his ability to strike out, and he came down the mound after receiving thunderous applause from the fans.
Veterans are here too. In the 8th inning, Han Seung-hyeok recorded the highest distance of 153 km. On the mound in the ninth inning, Jang Si-hwan’s fastball of 149 km, the highest, was on the verge of becoming commonplace. I nodded my head at what Sihwan Jang meant last month. In addition to the players who took the mound that day, Hanwha also throws around 150 km, including Nam Ji-min, Kim Bum-soo, Han Seung-ju, and Kim Gyu-yeon.
Just because the ball is fast doesn’t necessarily mean it’s good. No matter how good the speed is, if you don’t fight the batter properly with the ball, you will be attacked. After two outs in the first inning, Moon Dong-ju threw a 152km fastball from a 3-ball to Lee Jeong-hoo into the middle and hit a home run. He regretted, “I think it went in too easily.”
Moon Dong-ju said that he would prepare for the next game vigorously again, during the demonstration game where he could get a vaccination.안전놀이터 Kim Seo-hyun also has the guts to believe in her own ball and throw it, so her future is even brighter. From 2016 to last year, the team’s fastball average velocity has never exceeded the league average, and the fastball march that will begin during the season is already exciting.
Korea was shocked to see Japanese pitchers throwing a perfect 150 km from the World Baseball Classic (WBC) to the ninth pitch. If Moon Dong-ju and Kim Seo-hyun get on track, Korean baseball can develop further beyond Hanwha. These promising players at Eagles Park are sending a signal that Korea may end up envying Japan.