By Kim Hee-jun Reporter = SSG Landers’ resurgent submarine pitcher Park Jong-hoon, 32, takes the mound with the special assignment of leading the team out of its losing streak.
Park Jong-hoon will start the game against the Lotte Giants of the 2023 Shinhan Bank Solar KBO League at Sajik Stadium on Thursday. After picking up his second win of the season against the Incheon Hanwha Eagles on March 29, Jong-hoon will be looking for his first personal winning streak of the season.
Jong-hoon has struggled this season.
After having his season cut short in June 2021 after undergoing elbow ligament reconstruction surgery (Tommy John surgery), Jong-hoon returned in late July last year, but his performance fell short of expectations. In 11 games, he went 3-5 with a 6.00 ERA.
Expectations were high for Jong-hoon, as pitchers often perform well in their second year back from elbow ligament reconstruction surgery.
However, Jong-hoon struggled from the start of the season and was sent to the second team three times.
After being removed from the first team roster on April 20 and given ten days to recuperate, Jong-hoon pitched six innings of one-run ball against the Incheon Doosan Bears on April 30. However, the bats didn’t come alive and he took the loss.
Jong-hoon seemed to bounce back on May 6 against the Gochuk Kiwoom Heroes with a seven-inning, one-hit shutout to record his first win of the season, but he fell into another slump.
In the month of June, he went winless in four games with one loss and a 7.94 ERA, and was dropped from the first team roster once again.
In his first start of July, Jong-hoon struggled against the KIA Tigers in Incheon on July 5, giving up five runs in 2⅔ innings, and was sent down to the second team again the next day.
After regrouping, Jong-hoon showed signs of life in his first start of the second half against the Incheon Hanwha on July 29. He pitched six innings of three-hit ball with seven strikeouts.
Most importantly, he seemed to have gotten rid of his nagging control issues. After walking 6.46 batters per nine innings in the first half of the season, Jong-hoon didn’t give up a single walk or hit by pitch against Hanwha.
It was the first time in 310 days since September 22 last year against Hanwha in Incheon that Jong-hoon did not give up a walk or a hit-by-pitch to secure a win.
SSG manager Kim Won-hyung commented on Jong-hoon’s pitching, “His fastball reached 139 kilometers per hour at the beginning of the game. He had good pitches before, but I think there was a problem with his psychology.” “I felt that he was more intense than before. There was no change in his facial expression, and he didn’t seem to be very happy in the strikeout situation.”토토사이트
“I went down to the second team and prepared well, so I was able to get a good result. It was a result of my own efforts,” he said.
SSG is in desperate need of Jong-hoon’s performance. SSG lost all three games against the KT Wiz from January 1-3.
With a 6-11 record in 17 games since July, the gap between them and the LG Twins has widened to 5.5 games, and their second-place position has become quite precarious.
The batting lineup has been particularly quiet of late. In the three-game series against KT, SSG scored just one run in 27 innings. Despite strong performances from Kirk McCarty on Day 1 and Kwang-hyun Kim on Day 2, they were unable to win.
The batting lineup is young