“There is almost no difference in skills between when I first came in and now.”

Coach Ryu Joong-il of the national baseball team, who led the Hangzhou Asian Games in September last year and the Asian Professional Baseball Championship in November, said the above about Jeong Hae-young (23, KIA Tigers). He confessed that he scolded Jung Hae-young during an interview upon entering Gimpo Airport after completing APBC.

At the time, coach Ryu Joong-il coolly assessed that Jeong Hae-young's skills had not improved between her rookie season and her fourth year. One of the causes is Jeong Hae-young’s somewhat unstable pitching balance. Coach Ryu Joong-il said that Jeong Hae-young was consistently seen throwing the ball only with her upper body.

In fact, Haeyoung Jeong is a pitcher who has already changed the history of KIA's closers. He was the best finisher in Tigers history, making 20 saves for three consecutive years, something even Sun Dong-yeol and Lim Chang-yong could not do (pure Tigers). He also boasts a career save of 90, and is likely to become the youngest player to reach 100 saves this season.

At the end of the 2023 season, Jung Hae-young once said, “We ended it again.” Aside from the save, he was saying that he didn't like the content of the pitch. In fact, Hae-young Jeong had 3 wins, 4 losses, 23 saves, and 1 hold in 52 games last season, with an ERA of 2.92, but his WHIP was 1.48. He was higher than 1.19 and 1.29 in the 2021-2022 season.

Haeyoung Jeong is a pitcher who competes with vertical movement and rotation speed rather than speed. Therefore, as manager Ryu Joong-il pointed out, the sophistication of his pitching mechanics may be more important than that of a pitcher who relies on strength. So, participating in the Driveline Camp in Seattle, USA was meaningful.

Driveline has the advantage of being able to provide precise and detailed data on pitchers' mechanics and suggest a pitching direction that suits their body. Coaches Jae-Hoon Jeong, Lee Dong-Geol, and Jeong Hae-Young, who accompanied him, appear to have naturally set the direction for this season.

Jeong Hae-young possesses a good weapon called a splitter. Last year, based on the baseball statistics website StatTees, the fastball hitting percentage was 0.292, up 4 pennies and 2 leagues from 0.250 in the 2022 season. The answer to this part would have been found naturally.

Based on the results obtained at Driveline, Haeyoung Jeong will steadily prepare for the 2024 season in Canberra and Okinawa. There is a world of difference between simply building a body and knowing the cause of the problem and building a body with the right direction. It is also important for him to clearly utilize his strengths.

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