“I was surprised to see Seo Jin-yong yesterday.”
SSG Landers coach Kim Won-hyung was surprised to see the team’s closer, Seo Jin-yong. He is always a ‘pleasant surprise’ and admiration. A smile of satisfaction flowed over the closer who started the season with a good pitch.
In the 2023 KBO League regular season opener against the KIA Tigers on the 1st, SSG won a clean 4-1 victory with the harmony of pitching. In particular, after starting pitcher Kim Gwang-hyeon recorded 4 hits, 3 walks, 3 strikeouts and 1 run in 5 innings, 4 pitchers Choi Min-joon, Noh Kyung-eun, Koh Hyo-jun and Seo Jin-yong each took charge of 1 inning, posting a hold and a save, and cleanly blocked the total of 4 innings.
Seo Jin-yong, who will serve as the back door for SSG this season, also took the mound in the ninth inning, recording 1 hit, 1 walk, 2 strikeouts and no runs in 1 inning, and posted his first save of the season. What was most impressive was Seo Jin-yong’s restraint. He started with a 147km fastball on the second pitch to Lee Chang-jin, the first batter in the inning, and showed good condition by throwing a fastball of up to 148km.
Coach Won-hyung Kim, whom I met prior to the Incheon KIA game on the 2nd, also did not hide his satisfaction. Director Kim said, “I was surprised to see Seo Jin-yong yesterday. When I got to know Jin Yong-i before, his speed came out, but when I looked at him for the last 3 years, his form was the best,” he said. The things that were there came out with restraints or pitches, and he cleanly prevented the crisis he had created, and that led to good results.”
In fact, Seo Jin-yong’s average speed last season was 143km, which was not up to the speed he showed this season. 토토사이트
If so, what is the background for him to start this season with the best pitch in recent years?
Director Kim said, “There must be something you have felt over the past two years. ‘It makes no sense to say that a professional baseball player registered in the 1st team has been in his condition since May,’ he said before that.” He said he had to build a body. When I judge it, it seems that Seo Jin-yong built up his body steadily at the winter camp,” he said, citing his good preparation process as the background of his current good pitch.
With the smooth start of the bullpen, including the closer pitcher, SSG was able to shake off any anxiety about the relief team, which was another fruit of Seo Jin-yong’s 148km restraint.