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| A game between Kiwoom and Lotte at Sajik Baseball Stadium in Busan on the 20th, Lotte Velazquez coming down the mound after pitching. Busan = Reporter's wook@sportschosun.com/2025.09.20/ |
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| The game between the Hanwha Eagles and the Kiwoom Heroes at Hanwha Life Ball Park in Daejeon on the 13th. Hanwha Ponce is pitching hard. Daejeon = Reporter Park Jae-man pjm@sportschosun.com /2025.09.13/ |
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| The Hanwha-KIA match held at Kia Champions Field in Gwangju on the 16th. Weiss took the mound as a starting pitcher for Hanwha. Gwangju = Reporter Jeong Jae-geun cjg@sportschosun.com /2025.9.16/ |
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Now, a fast ball over 150km is basic. In the end, success or failure depends on the breaking ball control.
Most foreign pitchers who come to the KBO League now throw fast balls over 150km and over 155km. Since there are many domestic pitchers who stay more than 150km, 150km is now a basic restraint in the KBO League.
However, not all of them succeed. There are some players who pitch the best like Cody Ponce of the Hanwha Eagles, but Vince Velazquez, who recently came to the Lotte Giants, also throws fast balls but is sluggish. The reason can be found in the breaking ball.
LG's Shin Min-jae said, `Phone up before the question asking you to pick the best pitcher of the season is over. Ponce", he affirmed. When he mentioned other fast foreign pitchers such as SSG Anderson and Hanwha Weiss, Shin Min-jae said, `Ponce has good fastballs and breaking balls. Change-ups come and change just like fastballs."
Regarding Belsaquez's poor performance, Lotte manager Kim Tae-hyung said, `If you count with a breaking ball, the fastball is okay, so it's a game.'"The crystal ball needs to fall sharply in 2S, but it falls out of hand." He said, "I have to play the game quickly, but one or two are missing from there, so the atmosphere is passed on to the batters."
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| The Hanwha-KT match held at KT Wiz Park in Suwon on the 20th. Before the game, KT Cuevas' farewell ceremony was held. Director Lee Kang-chul is delivering a commemorative glove. Suwon = Reporter Jung Jae-geun cjg@sportschosun.com /2025.7.20/ |
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| The match between SSG and Kiwoom held at SSG Landers Field in Incheon on the 2nd. SSG Anderson is pitching as a starter. Incheon=Song Jeong-heon, Reporter Song @sportschosun.com/2025.09.02/ |
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KT Wiz manager Lee Kang-chul said on whether pitchers can pitch well in the first division, `It's important whether they can catch strikes with breaking balls at the ball count of 2B or 3B1S.' Manager Lee said, `A pitcher who cannot throw a strike due to a breaking ball should just throw a fastball, but hitters aim for all the fastballs thrown to catch a strike in such a count. Then you can't survive."
In the case of William Cuevas, who left due to poor performance this season, coach Lee had to give the same advice to mix breaking balls every season. Manager Lee said, "(Foreign pitchers can't get rid of the fastball-oriented style that they used to do in the U.S. Cuevas did the same, and when I told him to mix a lot of breaking balls if he was sluggish two or three times, he got better again," he said, explaining his regret after seeing his good work for as many as seven years.
With 150km of fastball pitchers becoming the trend in the ABS era, it is now the time for breaking balls to gauge their success and failure.
This article was translated by Naver AI translator.
