Will Park Young-hyun, Jung Hae-young, and Kim Seo-hyun be stronger than the national team's closure
Jun 02, 2025
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SSG Landers closer Cho Byung-hyun secured a tight one-point victory over the Lotte Giants in an away game at Sajik Stadium in Busan on the 1st.
The two teams that had been neck-and-neck with each other. SSG had a hard time scoring one run on Jihoon Choi's triple and opponent's wild pitch in the top of the ninth inning, and Cho took the mound in the bottom of the ninth inning in a close game.
Lotte's batters also showed strong performance. However, Cho ended the game comfortably. He handled Son Ho-young with a ground ball to shortstop, Son Sung-bin with a swing and miss strikeout, and Jang Doo-sung with a fly ball to center field, blocking Lotte's last room with a three-out strikeout. Of the 12 pitches he threw on the day, only one fork ball was thrown. The rest of them threw fastballs, but the opposing batters knew and had good pitching.
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However, it is difficult to evaluate the save by the ability of the closing pitcher alone. Teammates help and can only be harvested if they take the mound in as many saves as possible.
Cho Byung-hyun's individual performance is overwhelming, although he has relatively few chances to take the mound in the save situation. He played 26 ⅔ innings in 26 games, 4 wins, 1 loss, 10 saves and an ERA of 1.01. In 26 ⅔ innings, he had 19 hits (two homers) and 25 strikeouts, but on the contrary, he had only four walks. In addition, the hit rate is 20%, and the WHIP (perinning allowance) is 0.86.
Both on-base allowances and ERA per inning are the best among the league's major closers. In particular, Cho Byung-hyun is the only closing pitcher who maintains a 1-point ERA and a 0-point WHIP.
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SSG got the best closing pitcher last year. In the 2023 season, closer Seo Jin-yong won the save king, but as it took time to return to rehabilitation after surgery, Moon Seung-won was in charge of finishing in the first half of last year. And Cho Byung-hyun, who has clearly changed since being discharged from the military, took the finishing position.
This year, the choice was right. Jo Byung-hyun, the closing player, is overwhelming, and Noh Kyung-eun, Kim Min, and Lee Eui-woon. With the establishment of a strong must-win group, the percentage of games that are overturned due to bullpen difficulties has decreased sharply.
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Cho Byung-hyun, who joined the 'Premier 12' national team last year, was not the most outstanding at the time with all the outstanding finishes. However, there is a high possibility that he will wear the national team uniform as a closing pitcher next year 'WBC (World Baseball Classic)'.
This article was translated by Naver AI translator.
