Now is the era of fastballs. Even in the KBO League, balls approaching 160 km/h are flying and attracting attention.

On the 12th, Hanwha Eagles’ Mun Dong-ju threw a 160.1 km/h fastball against Park Chan-ho in the first inning against the KIA Tigers.

It was the first domestic player to record 160 km per hour since 2011, when the official statistics of the Korea Baseball Organization (KBO)’s official record statistics company Sports 2I Pitch Tracking System (PTS) began.

In response, Kiwoom Heroes’ Ahn Woo-jin threw a fastball that reached 158.2 km per hour on the 5th pitch against Heo Gyeong-min in the first inning against the Doosan Bears on the 13th. On the 19th, Hanwha Kim Seo-hyun raised expectations by pitching 157.9 km/h in the 7th inning against Lee Yoo-chan in the 2nd pitch against Doosan Bears.

Prior to Moon Dong-ju, the highest restraint record by a domestic player was a 158.7 km/h ball thrown by Choi Dae-seong of the Lotte Giants in 2012.

In the past KBO League, 160 km / h has been released.

In 2012, LG Twins Redames Leeds showed off a speed of 160 km/h several times, including a fastball of 162.1 km/h. In addition, in 2016, Hanwha Fabio Castillo once showed off a 160.4 km/h ball.

There were numerous challenges. However, there are only three pitchers who have reached 160 km/h: Leeds, Castillo, and Moon Dong-ju. During the 41 years of the KBO League, only 28 pitches (26 Leeds, 1 Castillo, and 1 Moon Dong-ju) pitched at 160 km/h or more have never been released.

Fastball pitchers are attractive. A fast ball is easy to overwhelm the batter. The batter has less time to judge pitches. Even if the hit is successful, there is a high probability that it will end up being a criminal hit.

Ahn Woo-jin, a top pitcher in Korea, also pointed out, “There is an advantage to having a fast ball like Moon Dong-ju.

But restraint is not the best. The best relief pitcher in the two major leagues, who recorded the most saves in the Major League (MLB), prioritized pitches that supported the first pitch and fastball rather than restraint as a weapon.

Mariano Rivera and Trevor Hoffman, whose maximum speed was 153-154 km, recorded the first and second most saves in the big leagues. Rivera has 652 saves and Hoffman has 601 saves.

For their legendary performances, the American League (AL) Salvation King was named the Mariano Rivera Award, and the National League (NL) Salvation King was named the Trevor Hoffman Award.

Aroldis Chapman, who threw 105.1 miles per hour (about 169 km) in 2016, is also doing well with a career-high 316 saves, but he is not up to Rivera or Hoffman.

In the end, the important thing is the breaking ball that highlights the sophisticated control and fast fastball.

Both Rivera and Hoffman were regarded as sophisticated pitchers with knife-like pitches during their active careers. He was able to cook the hitter by not giving the hitter a good ball while pitching to both ends of the strike zone.

In addition, Rivera’s fastball and cut fastball, which do not differ greatly in velocity, and Hoffman’s changeup, which makes it mistaken for a fastball, doubled the power of his fastball. In the end, even if the velocity of the fastball does not reach 160km/h, it becomes a powerful fastball if you use a pitch that will highlight it.

An Woo-jin, who has been in his 6th year of professional life, also emphasized the importance, saying, “In the pro, the first ball comes first.” 크크크벳

He said, “(In the professional) I felt the importance of control. Even if there is a difference of 10 km between the ball entering the center and the ball entering the outside, the ball thrown outward is good. I can’t do it. Long hits and home runs don’t come out well,” he explained.

Thanks to the speed and control of the fastball, Ahn Woo-jin also takes advantage of the slider, which accounts for 30% of the pitches. At the same time, the power of the fastball increases because the slider confuses the batter.

An Woo-jin, who runs an average ERA of 0.84 in 5 games and 32 innings this season, had a fastball swing rate of 47.3%. Even on the slider, the batter hit the bat at 35.4%. The changeup, which accounts for 7.1% of pitches, induces a swing at 32.6%.

Thanks to the breaking ball that calls the bat, batters have no choice but to feel An Woo-jin’s fastball more powerfully. Although it is an era of fastballs, it is said that control and breaking pitches are becoming more important.