“Actually, I was worried, ‘Will I be able to make 30 saves?’… .”
The opportunity to achieve 40 saves in a season does not come easily. Even if a team plays more than 100 games, the actual save opportunities often do not reach half of the total number of games because strict requirements such as score differential as well as innings pitched and runner situations must be met. For this reason, there are only a handful of pitchers who have achieved 40 saves over 42 years from the first year of professional baseball to this year. Until last year, there were only five players: Oh Seung-hwan (Samsung Lions, 4 times), Son Seung-rak (Nexen Heroes), Jin Pil-jung (Doosan Bears), Go Woo-seok (LG Twins), and Jeong Myeong-won (Pacific Dolphins, 1 time). SSG Landers coach Kim Won-hyung said, “The opportunity to achieve 40 saves is never common,” and “It is an honorable record that must be seized when the opportunity arises.”굿모닝토토
SSG Seo Jin-yong (31) was included in the list of players who achieved such a glorious record. In the game against Changwon NC Dinos on the 8th, Seo Jin-yong came on the mound in the top of the 9th inning after the team scored a large number of goals in the second half of the game to make it 10-8, and earned his 40th save this season. This is the result of a stable blocking of NC’s top batting lineup of Son Ah-seop, Seo Ho-cheol, and Kim Seong-wook, with Park Min-woo, who was a difficult opponent from the first hitter, stepping in as a pinch hitter. Coach Kim said after the game, “Recently, the bullpen pitchers have been showing good pitching, and among them, I would like to congratulate (Seo) Jin-yong, who achieved 40 saves for the first time in our club.”
This season, Seo Jin-yong became the pitcher with the most saves in the club’s history, including his time with his predecessor, SK Wyverns. In the game against the Incheon Lotte Giants on the 23rd of last month, he made 37 saves, surpassing the most saves (36) in a single season in the club’s history achieved by Ha Jae-hoon in 2019. At the time, Seo Jin-yong said, “I am happy to have broken the club record with 37 saves, but since there are still games left, I hope to make as many saves as possible to exceed 40 and help the team win as many games as possible.” Thanks to Seo Jin-yong, SSG was able to maintain an upward momentum again at the end of the regular season, and Seo Jin-yong also made 38 saves in the Incheon NC game on the 5th, confirming first place in the save category early on.
Seo Jin-yong said, “Actually, I was worried, ‘Will I be able to make 30 saves?’, but I am happy that he has now achieved 40 saves. “It’s an honor to be listed among great closing pitchers,” he said. “It feels good to have achieved the symbolic record of 40 saves, following the club’s record for most saves.” “The fact that he protected the team’s victory at such a critical time is very meaningful to me,” he said.
No Responses