KIA Tigers left-hander Young-gun Yoon Young-cheol left the mound without completing 4 innings for the first time since entering the second half of the season.
Young-Cheol Yoon started the 13th game of the season against the Doosan Bears in the 2023 Shinhan Bank SOL KBO League held at Gwangju-KIA Champions Field on the 15th, and performed poorly with 6 hits (1 home run), 2 walks, 3 strikeouts, and 2 runs in 3⅔ innings.메이저놀이터
Every inning was a series of hardships. In the top of the first inning, with one out, Kim Jae-ho’s double and Yang Seok-hwan’s single, Yoon Young-cheol hit a timely hit with an RBI for Yang Eui-ji, and after striking out Kim Jae-hwan, he gave up a walk to Kang Seung-ho after 9 pitches. He ended the inning without allowing any additional runs by grounding Heo Gyeong-min to shortstop with the bases loaded with two outs, but he had to throw a whopping 32 pitches in the top of the first inning alone.
The flow was not smooth in the top of the second inning. Yoon Young-cheol, who caught Park Gye-beom and Cho Soo-haeng with ground balls, allowed a hit and a walk to Soo-bin Jeong and Jae-ho Kim, respectively, putting himself in a scoring crisis. The inning ended with Yang Seok-hwan’s straight hit to the third baseman with two outs and runners on first and second base, but he had no choice but to relax after throwing 21 pitches in the top of the second inning.
There was even a home run in the top of the third inning. Yoon Young-cheol, who had two outs, delivered a left-handed solo shot against Kang Seung-ho. It was his 9th home run this season and his 6th home run when narrowed down to the second half of the season.
Young-Cheol Yoon allowed an infield hit to Su-Haeng Cho with one out in the top of the fourth inning, and had to hand the mound over to Jae-Yeol Kim after follow-up hitter Jeong Soo-Bin’s ground ball. Although there were not many runs allowed, the number of pitches increased to 76 because runners continued to be sent out.
Before the Doosan game was canceled on the 16th due to rain, KIA coach Kim Jong-guk said, “The pitches were high overall. We replaced them early, and it seems there was a tendency for fastballs and breaking balls to be high,” and “I think that’s unfortunate. The number of pitches was also high in the inning.” “I think there were more than I expected,” he said, expressing regret.
However, considering that this is the first season, the club must also think about player management. As a pitcher who is responsible for KIA’s present and future, fans’ expectations for Yoon Young-cheol are high.
KIA coach Kim Jong-guk said, “I’m thinking about turning it on Friday. I’m thinking about appearing once a week, and since there are postponed games, I’ll appear about 3 to 4 times in the future.” He added, “I hope he can empty his mind and throw comfortably. “I think I’ll throw better if I’m not greedy,” he said about how to utilize Young-cheol Yoon in the future.