“Pitch clock.” This is a key keyword that will determine whether Ko Woo-suk (26) of the San Diego Padres will make a soft landing in the U.S. Major League Baseball.
MLB introduced pitch clock last year. Pitchers had to finish pitching within 15 seconds without runners and 20 seconds without runners. A batter had to enter the batter’s box eight seconds before pitch clock ended. One ball was automatically declared if a pitcher violated the rules, and one strike was declared if a batter violated the rules. MLB also reduced the duration of a game by 24 minutes (3 hours and 4 minutes → 2 hours and 40 minutes), achieving its first goal of calling for “speed up.” However, the team artificially adjusted the duration of pitching and hitting, which significantly affected its performance and performance. 랭크카지노
Notably, pitchers with longer pitch tempos were directly hit. Representative player is Alex Vesia of the Los Angeles Dodgers. Vesia, a key left-handed bullpen for the Dodgers, displayed a surprise performance (63 games, 2.15 ERA) in 2022. However, his performance (56 games, 4.35 ERA) worsened significantly last year when pitch clock was applied. He had difficulty adjusting to the situation, with his ERA reaching 7.58 until June after the game opened. Vesia finished pitching at 24.5 seconds when there were no runners and 27.5 seconds when there were runners in 2022.
“I didn’t like it. I felt really rushed (on the mound),” he said. Not only that, but bullpen pitchers such as Andrew Bellati (Philadelphia Phillies), AJ Minter (Atlanta Braves), and Kyle Finnegan (Washington Nationals) are also struggling to adjust to the pitch clock.
Ko Woo-suk, who signed a contract with San Diego on the 4th, will step on the U.S. without any experience with pitch clock. The KBO League is scheduled to introduce pitch clock from 2024, which was mixed with Ko’s move. Compared to local pitchers who have practiced pitch clock since the minor leagues, they have difficulty adapting. “Bulpen pitchers are very nervous because they play (important moments) in innings,” said LG pitching coach Kim Kyung-tae, who coached Ko. “Breathing is important, but if you lose breath (because of pitch clock), your pitching balance can become irregular,” he said. “Ko’s pitching speed is not slow but not fast.”
Ko’s weakness is his ball control. He has 3.12 walks per nine innings in 2022, when he became the relief king of the KBO League. It was 4.50 last year. He strikes out a lot with his fastballs, but one of the tasks to be solved was his walk. The pitch clock, which requires artificial control of the pitch tempo, can cause his ball control to falter more.
LG manager Yeom Kyung-yeop said, “Pitch pitches don’t get better overnight. MLB style doesn’t fight with ball control,” adding, “If we install a splitter (in addition to the curveball we have previously thrown), Ko Woo-suk will be able to win.” “If you want to adapt to the pitch clock, you have to balance it out. Otherwise, you’ll be in a hurry,” manager Yeom said. “He has a pitching mechanism that he can adapt quickly (even if he makes changes).”