“Then (Kim) Taekyeon (Doosan Bears) is first place?”
KT Wiz closer Park Young-hyun (21) sighed at the news that he ranks second in fastball penetration among the 10 teams. That’s how much pride he has in fastballs. “I throw fastballs a lot these days,” Park said, expressing regret.
Park Young-hyun, dubbed “the second Oh Seung-hwan (Samsung Lions), is known for his straightforward pitching. He keeps making cool fastballs that exceed 150 kilometers per hour. According to Sports 2I, Park’s fastball penetration rate is 67.1 percent (average speed of 145.9 kilometers per hour), which is the third highest among pitchers with more than 500 pitches this season. Kim Taek-yeon ranks first with 74.7 percent of the time (148.1 kilometers per hour). However, Park’s fastball per minute (RPM) is said to far exceed the league average. Besides “Speed,” Park’s fastball means that she has full of energy at the end of the ball.
“Taeyeon’s fastball is really good. We both played catch during the Seoul Series, and I thought, ‘She’s amazing. I felt like I was making my ball come alive,” Park Young-hyun said. “I think she’s No. 1 in fastball.”
Park Young-hyun is also full of confidence in his fastball. He took the mound with the bases loaded with two outs in the eighth inning against the LG Twins in Jamsil on the 28th, recording 1 1/3 scoreless innings. KT scored four runs in the top of the 10th inning to win 8-4 to mark its 10th win (two losses) of the season. He became the first pitcher to achieve 10 wins and 20 saves in 20 years since Cho Yong-joon (then of the Hyundai Unicorns) in 2004. He became the 11th pitcher in KBO history after Song Jin-woo, Sun Dong-yeol, Koo Dae-sung, Sanghoon Lee and Lim Chang-yong.
The driving force behind the record lies in fastballs. Park threw a total of 13 pitches (ten strikes) on the day, and his fastball ratio was 92.3 percent (12). The only remaining pitches he threw were changeups. After throwing four fastballs with two outs in a row in the game against Austin Dean, the bases loaded with two outs in the eighth inning, Baek Mi-mi induced the first baseman to fly a foul with balls up to 150 kilometers per hour on the day. “I always thought about head-to-head games (fastballs). I like to compete in fast count, and I threw more confidently because Austin was late in the third foul,” Park said. Park Young-hyun is largely responsible for KT’s high winning rate of 11 wins and two losses in this year’s extended game.
Park Young-hyun, who constantly ran through the Hangzhou Asian Games, the postseason, and the Asian Baseball Championship last year, faltered early this year, the first season of his switch to finish. However, he has recorded five wins and 11 saves with an ERA of 0.34 (10 wins, 2 losses and 21 saves with an ERA of 3.20) in 21 games since July. With his fastball pitching and speed improving, he has also improved his performance and confidence. “It is tough,” said Park, who became the only closing pitcher of this season who pitched 60 innings (64 and 2/3 innings) or more, but added, “I have conveyed my intention to throw more to the manager if I can help the team because of my good performance.” 스포츠토토