I didn't forget the gold medal catcher, Doona, a three-man catcher player, said, "Competition helps."
I didn't forget the gold medal catcher, Doona, a three-man catcher player, said, "Competition helps."
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The KIA Tigers aims to win its second consecutive title in the 2025 season by banking on its "national team finishing duo." It was a time when the Doosan Bears and the away game in Jamsil showed off their bullpen strength by recruiting Cho Sang-woo. During the two consecutive games in Jamsil, KIA put Jung Hae-young and Cho Sang-woo on the mound in the ninth inning in succession to display solidity.
KIA played the Doosan Bears in the 2025 Shinhan Sol Bank KBO exhibition game at Jamsil Stadium in Seoul on the 14th and drew 3-3. KIA beat Doosan 4-1 in the showdown on the 13th.온라인바카라
With two foreign pitchers on the starting mound for two consecutive days, KIA showed off its stable pitching power with Adam Oler's four scoreless innings and Jeong Hae-young's clean three-out save in the bottom of the ninth inning.
James Nail (five hits, three strikeouts, three walks and four strikeouts) and Yoon Young-cheol (four innings, four hits, three strikeouts, and no run) collaborated for eight innings on Tuesday. Then, Cho took the mound in the bottom of the ninth inning when the score was 3-3. Cho displayed strong pitching by only striking out all three out counts. While recording the maximum speed of 149 km/h in fastball, Cho calmly faced off Kim Ki-yeon, a pinch hitter, even at the risk of finishing with two outs and second base, and struck out swinging with sliders.
If Cho Sang-woo improves his pitching condition, Kia will likely fully realize the effect of off-season trade. In December last year, Kia gave up 1 billion won in cash and a first- and fourth-round pick in 2026, and acquired pitcher Cho Sang-woo from the Kiwoom Heroes in trade. It was a bold investment to fill the void left by Jang Hyun-sik (LG Twins), who used to be a key bullpen resource.
Jo Sang-woo, who has 88 saves in his career in the first division and has 33 saves in the 2020 season, and experience playing for the national team, is a relief pitcher representing the KBO league. As Jo Sang-woo moved to Kia, he needed to clean up traffic with Jung Hae-young, an existing relief pitcher. Jung also had the backbone of maintaining his team's finishing position for a long time. Jung played in 53 games in the 2024 season with 31 saves and an earned run average of 2.49, contributing to his team's overall win.
Before the opening of the season, coach Lee Bum-ho decided to use Jeong Hae-young as the closing pitcher. Cho will take the mound at exhibition games to decide whether he will take charge of the set-up man in the eighth inning or the all-weather set-up man in the sixth and eighth innings.
Considering the trend of exhibition games, the synergy effect between Jung and Jo Sang-woo seems to be evident. After steadily training during the off-season and spring camp, Jung displayed good pitching conditions in the previous two exhibition games.
Jeong Hae-young, who met with reporters on the 14th, said, "I felt that the second ball was much better than the first. In fact, I felt less pace in the camp compared to when I was preparing in the U.S. a year ago. Fortunately, I was relieved after my second appearance. I have confidence to raise my pace even further until the opening game."
On the synergy effect with Jo Sang-woo, Jung Hae-young said, "I continue to have fun conversations with (Cho) Sang-woo. While exercising together, I realized that Sang-woo's mindset toward baseball is really sincere. I plan to seek advice on how to overcome the bad cycle when the season starts," adding, "I am always nervous and compete in my place because my team's pitching staff including (Cho) Sang-woo is so good. If I don't show that much performance, I can't say that it's my place."
In order to win the team's second consecutive title in 2025, Jung Hae-young also needs to make the result of winning the Save King award for the second consecutive year.
"Last year's championship gives us a little bit of pressure," Jung said. "However, the atmosphere of this camp was really good, and if everyone is safe and performing well, we will not fall behind other teams at all," Jung said. "That's why I need to be a little stronger. Both the team and I need to hit it hard in the early stages to be able to withstand bad times in the second half. I will continue to think about how to boost my pitching pace in the early days of this season."