KIA left-hander rookie Yoon Young-cheol (19) played against Samsung on October 8 and pitched well, allowing 1 run in 6 innings. And this game became his last appearance this season. It was a day that exceeded the ‘120 innings’ that the club had set as a standard.
KIA coach Kim Jong-guk sat across from Yoon Young-cheol. Coach Kim persuaded us, “We have been trying to get 10 wins so far, but now it has become difficult to get 10 wins, and we had thought about 120 innings. We have passed that, so let’s end it here.” Yoon Young-cheol also accepted this, saying “I understand,” without any particular opinion, and it was decided to end the season. Young-Cheol Yoon finished his unforgettable debut season this year with 8 wins, 7 losses, and an ERA of 4.04, pitching 122⅔ innings in 25 games.
He was Yoon Young-cheol, who pitched more than 5 innings in three consecutive games at the end of the season and allowed less than 2 earned runs. However, he was disappointed that he only lost one game without a win in these three games. He was expected to challenge for the final 10 wins as a rookie-eligible player this year, but he was a bit unlucky. Yoon Young-cheol took comfort in saying, “The biggest thing is that I finished the entire season,” but when asked to give his score, he answered, “50 points.” This is a particularly harsh evaluation of oneself.
However, Yoon Young-cheol’s achievements this year are not at the level of ’50 points’. Looking at the KBO League’s historical records, it can be seen as an achievement of ’90 points or more’ even if it is not possible for a rookie player graduating from high school. In the history of KBO high school rookies, there are only a handful of pitchers who have had more starting wins than Yoon Young-cheol.
Of Yoon Young-cheol’s eight wins this year, seven were as a starter, which ranks seventh all-time among high school rookies since 2000. Players with more wins than Yun Young-cheol in the same year as a high school graduate rookie include Ryu Hyun-jin (18 wins) in 2006, who dominated the league as soon as he joined the team and earned the title of ‘monster’, KT So Hyun-jun (13 wins) in 2020, and KIA Kim Jin-woo in 2002. (12 wins), Hyundai Oh Joo-won in 2004, Hanwha Cho Gyu-soo in 2000 (10 wins), and Hanwha Song Chang-sik (8 wins) in 2004. Among the KIA franchises, he ranks second after Kim Jin-woo.
As Yoon Young-cheol said, having the experience of playing an entire season is also valuable. This is because he can prepare for the 2024 season with both the confidence gained from the experience of success and the complements gained from the experience of failure. Yoon Young-cheol, who unfortunately missed out on an ERA in the 3-point range and 10 wins, plans to calmly look back on this year and prepare for next year.
He always had a smile on his face, but it was actually difficult. He well felt the stark reality that high school graduate players realize when they come to the pros. Young-cheol Yoon said, “It was harder than I thought. There were a lot of things that were a bit more difficult physically,” and “Just doing a full-time rotation in itself took a lot of stamina. As the second half of the year came, my hands dropped a lot, and there were many times when my balls didn’t come out, so in the second half, I struggled a little bit. “There were a lot of bad games,” he said.
So, the most important thing to focus on during this off-season is physical strength and body building. Adding velocity or other pitch types also attracts attention, but the ‘vessel’ itself must be increased first for the rest of the work to proceed smoothly. Yoon Young-cheol, who did not pitch at the end of the season and calmly rested and trained, plans to participate in the team’s Okinawa finishing camp starting on November 1 to find the clues. A KIA official explained, “It will be a program focused on recovery training and strengthening physical strength rather than pitching.”메이저사이트
Youngcheol Yoon said, “I will train hard in terms of physical strength so that I don’t get tired next year. In the first season, I focused on doing what I was told to do, but next year, I plan to study a lot and find a workout that suits me. To be honest, I can say that I threw well because I was a rookie.” “It’s just what I heard, but looking at the record, honestly, it’s not a very good record. It wouldn’t be good if it continued like this next year, and the year after that, so I’m not too satisfied. I want to improve and show that I can throw better,” he confidently said.