'Kim Taek-yeon to Yoo Young-chan' Closing Injuries Continue: Why Has KT's Park Young-hyun Remained Unshaken Despite His '75 1/3 Innings Pace'? "It's Not Good to Rest Too Long"

*This content was translated by AI.

National team closer Park Young-hyun (23, KT Wiz) reassured fans who were worried about his consecutive appearances.

Park, who graduated from Bucheon Bukcho Elementary, Bucheon Middle School, and Yusin High School, was selected first overall in the 2022 KBO Rookie Draft and joined KT, where he has consistently served as the closer.

Thanks to the stability he showed from his debut year, Park has always been called upon in crisis situations and has always protected the team's victory. As a result, he pitched 51 2/3 innings in his debut year and has handled at least 69 innings every year since. As of the conclusion of games on the 7th this year, he has recorded 15 games, 2 wins, no losses, 9 saves, and an ERA of 2.04, with 17 strikeouts in 17 2/3 innings, placing him in a joint third place for most innings pitched and maintaining a 75 1/3 innings pace.

Recently, national team closers have been leaving one after another due to injuries, raising concerns for Park as well. Kim Taek-yeon (22, Doosan Bears) left on April 24 due to shoulder pain, and on the same day, Yoo Young-chan (29, LG Twins) underwent surgery for a stress fracture in the olecranon of his right elbow.

Park Young-hyun shares the same sorrow over the news of his teammates' consecutive injuries due to injuries. After the match against Suwon Lotte Giants on the 5th, Park said, "It's too sad. I'm worried that my seniors and juniors from the national team got hurt." He then calmly added, "I don't push myself to win just to win; I've just gotten used to throwing a lot. I haven't been sick once since the start of this year, so I just thought I should do my part."

There has always been debate over how to best utilize Park Young-hyun. By conventional thinking, a pitcher who throws many innings at once or makes consecutive appearances will lose stamina. Therefore, unlike in the past, there is a growing trend to avoid having relief pitchers make three consecutive appearances.

However, there are pitchers who defy this common sense, and Park Young-hyun is one of them. When he appears with a two-day interval, his career record shows 68 games with an ERA of 1.96, and with a three-day interval, 50 games with an ERA of 2.17, indicating he throws better when he rests. However, when he appears with a four-day interval, his record drops to 24 games with an ERA of 4.71, and when his rest period extends to a week or more, his record worsens further to 27 games with an ERA of 5.14.

This is sometimes why Park Young-hyun appears even in games with a large score difference. Park stated, "I don't want to do it either, but it's not good to rest for too long. Resting every other day is fine, but if I rest for five or six days, my body doesn't loosen up, so it's better to make consecutive appearances and rest for a day." He added, "It's more of a conditioning issue than a sensory one. When I rest, my arm is definitely fine, but my body feels heavy. I feel like I can't throw my pitches at 100%."

Even though the player says this, KT is extremely careful in managing Park Young-hyun. Even if KT's bullpen has become solid, there is a significant difference between having Park Young-hyun in the ninth inning and not having him. As a result, although Park Young-hyun has pitched many innings this year, he has made two consecutive appearances only three times and has never made three or more consecutive appearances, ensuring he receives sufficient rest.

Park Young-hyun said, "I built up my body early during the WBC, but my velocity didn't increase much. Since my body wasn't fully ready, I tried to throw hard, which led to poor performance and made me very anxious."

He continued, "When I returned to KT, pitching coach Jeon Chun-mo kept watching over me when things weren't going well. As a result, my conditioning improved at some point. In the first game of the season against LG, I threw 35 pitches, and my body actually loosened up. I think that's when it definitely started to improve. The manager also always gives me many positive words. I am also trying to maintain my current good performance." He smiled.

He is not unaware of fans' concerns about overuse. Many players who were fine in their early years experience sequelae as their years of service accumulate. In response, Park Young-hyun said, "If you're anxious, you can't play baseball. I always think positively that I won't get sick." He added, "I'm glad my father passed on a good body to me. Instead of trying not to get sick, I'm trying to do what I can." He smiled.

He has not forgotten to make his own efforts. During the opening series, he said he felt energized after eating boiled crab, and he added duck soup to his list of nourishing foods. Park Young-hyun realized he had initially misspoken about "bosintang" (dog meat soup) and exclaimed, "Ah, it's not bosintang. I can't eat or not eat that dog meat." He then emphasized, "Lately, I've been eating mainly nourishing foods. I went to Gwangju and ate duck soup, and I plan to go eat duck stew. I want to keep eating things that are good for my body."

Maintaining mental health is also the reason he remains unshaken. Surprisingly, his way of relieving stress was FPS (first-person shooter games). Park Young-hyun laughed, "To maintain my conditioning, I always try to sleep a lot. I try to sleep well and avoid stress altogether. If I do get stressed, I play Overwatch."

He added, "You can think of me as a simple person. It's okay if the game doesn't go well. I get a lot of swearing in the game, so I think those people must be stressed too. Getting sworn at is fun."

Unlike previous years when KT was a slow starter, this year the team has been in a fierce battle for first place alongside LG since the early part of the season. Thanks to this, Park Young-hyun is also leading the race for the saves champion, currently in second place in the saves league. Considering that Yoo Young-chan, who is in first place with 11 saves, is effectively out for the season, it is only a matter of time before Park takes the top spot.

Park Young-hyun said with determination, "Among ourselves, we say, 'Why are we doing so well?' It seems like the pitching and hitting are well-balanced. Usually, pitchers do well, but since the batters are also stepping up, we seem to be in first place. Senior (Kim) Hyun-soo and (Choi) Won-jun hit well when it matters, so I try to close things out comfortably from behind."

<© STARNEWS. All rights reserved. No reproduction or redistribution allowed.>

*This content was translated by AI.