It was the backup catcher of 'Long Year' who made this twist

The team has achieved six consecutive wins by subduing the gusts of the Hanwha Eagles, which had been rated as "one-weak." Who will be leading the trend? Catcher Kim Jae-hyun is a must.

Kiwoom won 7-6 in the second game of a three-game weekend series against Hanwha in the 2024 KBO League held at Gocheok Sky Dome in Seoul on the 6th, and won six consecutive games from the Gocheok LG Twins on the 30th of last month. Although it did not seem to show a turnaround by losing all four games of the opening match, it won its first Winning Series this season against the "defending champion" LG, and after easily overpowering the Samsung Lions, which suffered consecutive losses in Daegu, it secured a third consecutive Winning Series by winning eight (2) in the first 10 games of this season.  스포츠토토

In particular, the first game of the Hanwha Eagles on Saturday was heavily bombarded with rifles that are unique to Kiwoom's batters. In the bottom of the fifth inning, Ryu garnered seven consecutive hits against Ryu, a former "big leaguer," and scored seven runs. After Ryu was taken off the mound, he scored three more runs off Kim Seo-hyun, who was the representative rookie of the last season. He scored seven or more runs during the six consecutive winning seasons. He ranked first in both the team batting average (0.321) and the team scoring (52) among the 10 teams during the period.

They have outstanding performance in their starting lineup. Starting with Ha Young-min at the LG match on March 30, Kiwoom has won six consecutive starts. Foreign pitchers Ariel Furado and Enmanuel de Heissus, and Korean pitchers Ha Young-min and Kim Sun-ki all pitched five or more innings to protect their team's lead. Their ERA in the past six games is 2.38.

Kiwoom's power has weakened significantly as Lee Jung-hoo and Ahn Woo-jin left the Major League after entering the Major League and joining the military, respectively. Choi Joo-hwan, a big gun infielder, was hired in the second draft, and Cho Sang-woo, a top-ranked bullpen pitcher, returned after completing his military service, but he still seemed to be lacking in competitiveness. There was no other reinforcement from the outside. Rather, Lim Chang-min, the closing pitcher of last season, moved to the Samsung Lions and even the bullpen was shaken.

A player who is indispensable for Kiwoom's sixth consecutive win is catcher Kim Jae-hyun. He sat out the first two games as a substitute after Kim was instructed to join the second division. He failed to prevent a 2-6 loss against the NC Dinos on March 27, but blocked the team's loss by allowing one run in six innings in the first game of the three consecutive LG games on March 29, and has displayed stable pitching by maintaining his home ground during the winning streak.

He is showing his presence at bat as well. He was the one who fired a flurry of big innings in the match against Hanwha on Saturday that brought down Ryu. In the bottom of the fifth inning when Kiwoom was losing 0-4, he pulled Ryu's curveball outside (based on right-handed hitters) to hit a double that brushed against third base and extended into the outfield, marking Kiwoom's first run and first timely hit against Ryu. Since then, Kiwoom has broken down the Korean baseball's representative pitcher with six consecutive hits. Kim Jae-hyun also contributed to the team's offense by recording multi hits in consecutive games in the second and third games of the three LG series.

Kim Jae-hyun, who was drafted by the Heroes in the eighth round in 2012, is a backup catcher who has played in more than 100 games only once. The most brilliant season was the 2018 season when he played 625 innings in 116 games. On March 27, he led Kiwoom (then Nexen) to a 5-4 victory with his first walk-off hit in the 2018 season at the batter's box against LG in Gocheok.

Kim Jae-hyun, who traveled to the first and second leagues by senior catcher Park Dong-won (currently LG) and Lee Ji-young (currently SSG Landers), lost more presence last season when his team started the rebuilding system in earnest. However, he is recognized as a key player leading Kiwoom's turnaround in this season. He brought about a change that appeared as a record in his main job as a pitcher lead, and he is also playing a role as a new stealer in the batting lineup. Although his pitching and hitting cycle has been on the upward trajectory, it is clear that Kiwoom's performance has revived after he took charge of the main catcher.