Even when he threw, he threw again! KIA's Jung Hae-young's all-out 24 pitches made the 'KBO's youngest 150 saves' record even more valuable.

*This content was translated by AI.

Reliever Jung Hae-young (25), who has returned, secured a victory for the KIA Tigers after a grueling battle.

On the 24th, KIA defeated the SSG Landers 3-2 in a nail-biting win at the Gwangju-Kia Champions Field during a 2026 Shinhan SOL KBO League regular-season home game. With this win, the fourth-place KIA, on a three-game winning streak, narrowed the gap to third-place KT Wiz (27 wins, 1 tie, 19 losses) to 2.5 games, finishing with 25 wins, 1 tie, and 22 losses. Meanwhile, SSG fell into a seven-game losing streak, dropping to 22 wins, 1 tie, and 25 losses, and slipping out of the top five.

The ninth inning, with KIA leading 3-0, was the turning point. With existing closer Sung Young-tak (22) resting after three consecutive appearances, Jung Hae-young took the mound. Jung Hae-young was the undisputed closer who had previously been responsible for KIA's late-game defense. Starting with a surprise save in his debut year in 2020, he recorded 20 or more saves for five consecutive years from 2021, establishing himself as the league's top closer.

However, his position began to waver starting last year. Despite 27 saves, his detailed statistics were not good: an ERA of 3.79 in 60 games and 72 strikeouts in 61⅔ innings. Consequently, this year, in his first four games, he posted an ERA of 16.88, 5 walks and 1 strikeout in 2⅔ innings, a WHIP (walks plus hits per inning pitched) of 2.63, and a batting average against of 0.273, showing his worst performance to date, and was sent down to the minor league.

Jung Hae-young returned to the first division on the 22nd of last month and gradually regained his velocity, recording 10 consecutive scoreless outings, thereby regaining the trust of the coaching staff. During those 10 games, he pitched 12⅔ innings, including two multi-inning appearances, and the fact that he issued only two walks was particularly encouraging.

Thus, the save situation in the ninth inning was finally secured, but it was not easy this time either, contrary to his resolve. The ninth inning began with SSG's top-order batters, who were desperate to break their losing streak, and Jung Hae-young's pitches started flying again. Jung Hae-young recorded two consecutive balls on his first two pitches and then tried hard to throw the ball into the strike zone. As a result, many hits naturally came out. Park Sung-han hit a hanbok-plate fastball on the fourth pitch for a line drive single to center field, and Jeong Jun-jae smashed a slider on the inside corner, producing a double down the right-field line.

Even with no outs and runners on second and third, Jung Hae-young's location was not good. He threw a fastball high over Guillermo Heredia, and on the second pitch, he threw it at the hanbok plate, allowing a two-run, go-ahead hit down the right-field line. Following that, he also gave up a large fly ball heading toward the left-center field fence to pinch hitter Oh Tae-gon. Fortunately, left fielder Park Jae-hyun caught it steadily, overcoming the tying threat.

With defensive help, Jung Hae-young gradually regained his confidence. He threw his first pitch strike after facing five batters. Jung Hae-young consistently attacked the low outside corner against Han Yu-seom, inducing a swing and miss, and achieved a strikeout in five pitches. He threw another ball at Choi Ji-hoon, but boldly dropped a forkball in the middle of the plate to get two strikes.

Eventually, Choi Ji-hoon was caught in a fly ball to second base, allowing Jung Hae-young to achieve his 150th career save in 48 days. The final record on the scorecard was one inning, three hits allowed, no walks, one strikeout, and two earned runs. It was not clean, but it was the mark of his all-out effort with 24 pitches.

With this, Jung Hae-young set the KBO League record for the youngest 150 saves at 24 years, 9 months, and 1 day. This is about six years after he recorded his first save on August 30, 2020, in a game against the Gwangju KT Wiz. The previous record was held by the legend of 427 career saves in the KBO, Oh Seung-hwan (retired), at 26 years, 9 months, and 20 days. Because the save was made by throwing strikes despite his control not being as intended, it was even more valuable.

For the time being, there is no player who is likely to challenge Jung Hae-young's record. The next fastest is Park Young-hyun (23, KT) with 74 career saves, indicating that Jung Hae-young's pace of accumulating saves over the past five years was faster than imagined.

Jung Hae-young achieved the KBO's youngest 50 saves on June 2, 2022, in a game against the Jamsil Doosan Bears, and reached the youngest 100 saves on April 24, 2024, in a game against the Gocheok Kiwoom Heroes. Even looking back at the Tigers' history, which has had many outstanding closers, this was an all-time pace. He tied the single-season franchise record for most saves in a full-time closer's first year. He surpassed Shin Dong-yeol (31 saves in 1993, 33 saves in 1995) and tied with Im Chang-yong (34 saves in 1998).

While the new closer Sung Young-tak remains dominant with 18 games, 1 win, no losses, 3 holds, 7 saves, and an ERA of 0.84, Jung Hae-young is gradually building good memories in crisis situations, further solidifying KIA's late-game defense.

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

*This content was translated by AI.