“Honestly, I didn’t think I’d make it to 70 games….”
Han Seung-hyuk (31-Hanhwa Eagles) entered the professional ranks in the first round (8th overall) of the 2011 KBO Draft by the KIA Tigers. A pitcher who threw a fastball over 150 mph, a rarity at the time, he was given opportunities as a starter and reliever, but his inconsistent delivery prevented him from really carving out a place for himself.
He was eventually traded to Hanwha after the 2022 season. Last year, Han only appeared in 21 games. He pitched 36⅓ innings and finished with a 6.44 ERA.
Now in his 14th year as a professional. Han’s “real career” has finally begun.
In four exhibition games, he pitched 5⅔ innings without giving up a run, and in five games in March, he kept his ERA at zero.
It was a time of wondering. “Every year, I’ve had a good start to the season,” Han cautions.
When the regular season was complete.
Han had pitched a total of 70 games. That’s the most of any pitcher on the team. He also accumulated 19 holds. He’s established himself as a solid set-up man.
Despite playing the most games, Han Seung-hyeok is still in fall training at the Hanwha Life Eagles Park in Daejeon. Instead of throwing the ball, he’s doing recovery exercises to prepare for next season.
“This year, I honestly didn’t think I could play 70 games. I thought that 60 games would be enough, and I prepared for that before the season, but during the season, 토토사이트 I had the opportunity to play 70 games, and I wanted to do it. Once I achieved it, I felt that I had a really good season. I also didn’t think that I would have so many holds,” Han said.
Playing the most matches since his debut also took a toll on his body. “It was tough during the season,” Han said. If you’re a middle reliever, you might rest your arm even if you don’t go out. I also played 70 games this year, but there were many games where I didn’t go out with just my arm,” he said. ‘After the season, I plan to maintain and recover well so that I can do well next year. Also, it’s the first time I’ve played so many games, so I think I need to be more prepared.’
He prepared for the next game.
On how she overcame the ‘early jinx’ that she was worried about, she said, “In the past, if I put too much focus and energy into the first half of the match, I sometimes collapsed in the second half, but this year, I think I thought about that and played with that in mind. Especially I think I had a better summer than I thought. My summer hasn’t always been good. I felt my stamina dropping, and it wasn’t that my velocity was dropping, it was that my balance wasn’t as good, but this year I had a lot of luck,” he said.
The introduction of the automatic pitch judgment system (ABS) this season has helped Han. He used to get a “ball” call on pitches that looked like they weren’t good pitches, but with the machine recognizing pitches in the strike zone as strikes, he was able to throw more confidently. “There were a lot of times when I couldn’t throw the ball where I wanted to,” says Han. Now that I’m getting a lot of strikes, I think it’s been a favorable season for me, and while my record isn’t great, I’ve been able to get a lot of holds,” he said. ”I don’t know how it will change next year, but now that I’ve done it for a year, I think I’ll be better than I was this year.”
After bouncing back and forth between the starting rotation and the bullpen, he’s now fully settled into the bullpen.
“It’s good to be a starter, but it’s really great to be able to pitch more than five innings all year long. I think being in the middle has a different appeal than starting. I think I had a lot of fun this year,” he said, adding with a smile, ”It’s easy to get discouraged after a few bad situations, but the manager and pitching coach believed in me, so I was able to do better.”
Despite their clear achievements this season, they immediately looked ahead to next year. “This year is over, and next year is next year,” Han said. If I had a goal, I would like to reduce my strikeouts by about 10, rather than the number of holds or appearances. This year, I gave up nearly 40 strikeouts, but it’s hard for me because I’m in unnecessary situations, and I’m often replaced in the middle, so the next pitcher comes up. It hurts my stats, so I want to cut down on that,” he emphasized.
“I try to think of it as the beginning of my career. I didn’t even make it to 50 games, but I made it to 70, so I’m going to build on this year and make a good career,” he said, adding, ”When I go up there, I’m going to make sure that I can pitch one strong inning.”