Joo Hyun-sang (32-Hanwha Eagles) earned his 21st save of the season on April 17, preserving a 4-1 lead against the Changwon NC Dinos. The save tied the Eagles’ all-time record for saves by a right-hander. The previous record was 20 saves by Delay Gyu in 2005 and Song Chang-sik in 2013. After adding another save against NC on the 19th, Joo Hyun-hyun was not in a save situation against Lotte on the 22nd, but he pitched well in the first inning to preserve the win.
He is starting to become synonymous with ‘life-changing battles’. Joo, who joined Hanwha in the seventh round (64th overall) of the 2015 rookie draft after graduating from Cheongju-Dong-Ah University, was an infielder when he joined the organization. He showed promise, playing in 103 games as a rookie in 2015, but he struggled to find a place in the first team and eventually switched to pitching in 2021.
The switch was life-changing. He established himself as a bullpen resource, pitching 50 innings a year with his reliable stuff. In 2023, he recorded 12 saves, and this season, he is now the closer and has written his name in the Eagles’ history books.
“It’s good to have my name on it. Even if the next pitcher surpasses my record, my name will appear again, so it’s meaningful,” he smiled.
Joo’s pitching this season hasn’t been flashy, but it’s been one of the most reliable in the league.
His 0.76 walks allowed per inning (WHIP) is the lowest among players with a save record. This is even more impressive when you compare it to the WHIP of the top saves leader Jung Jung-young (KIA-30 saves), who has a WHIP of 1.26, and Kim Taek-yeon (Doosan-18 saves), who is considered the ‘0th’ Rookie of the Year, who has a WHIP of 1.24.
Despite establishing himself as one of the best closers in the game, Joo recalls a moment of regret. “Looking back now, I think I could have made more saves. I regret that I made a blown save,” he said. ”But I also saved a lot of team wins, so I’m proud of myself for my first year.”
“It’s the toughest situation, and the pressure is strong, so that part was hard,” he said. ‘Also, it’s not easy to prepare for the eighth inning because there are a lot of situations where there are runners on base.’ ”But if the situation arises, I want to continue to go up and make saves. I want to protect the closer somehow, 메이저사이트 and next year I will prepare well to make more good records than this year. I’m going to be better prepared next year to be able to pitch a full season again.”
A save streak that made Eagles history. Ryu was there for the most meaningful moments. “My first save was when (Ryu) Hyun-jin protected my brother’s win, and my 20th save was when Hyun-jin pitched for my brother. It means a lot,” he said, adding, ”Hyun-jin gives me a lot of faith that I can still win if I go out there.”
‘Closer’ Joo Hyun-sang also plans to grow a bit more next year.
“My ability to solve the game has changed a lot as a closer,” he says, ”and now I have more time to think about the next batter. Before, I was throwing with the mindset of facing this batter unconditionally, but in the middle and late innings, I could see the next batter and started to calculate whether I should go hard or catch this batter unconditionally.”
Despite having the best closer in the game, Hanwha is in a difficult position to make the postseason, sitting in seventh place with 22 days to go. They are four games back of fifth-place SSG Landers, so they need to rack up as many wins as possible in their remaining games and then see how their competition fares. “If we had won a lot of winnable games early on, we would have been in a different position,” said Joo Hyun-sung, ”but it’s unfortunate that we lost those games. Next year, we will try to win as many games as possible so that we can continue to fight for the rankings. It’s disappointing this year, but I think we can do better next year,” he said.