Samsung's '88 Save Trio'
Samsung's '88 Save Trio' shined from the opening game
Samsung won 6-2 in the opening match against KT on the 23rd with a 4 innings 3K scoreless joint venture
Samsung won a pleasant overtime victory over last year's runner-up kt in the opening game.
The Samsung Lions, led by head coach Park Jin-man, won 6-2 in the opening match against the 2024 Shinhan Bank SOL KBO League kt Wiz at the Suwon kt Wiz Park on the 23rd, hitting 11 hits, including one home run, after a close game that lasted until the 10th inning. Samsung, which failed to compete 2-2 with kt until the 9th inning of the regular inning, won the thrilling opening game by breaking down kt's new closer Park Young-hyun, who took the mound from the 9th inning in the top of the 10th inning in offense.
For Samsung, Kim Hyun-joon, who played as a pinch hitter with one out and loaded the bases in the 10th inning of the coalition and hit a timely hit in the middle, became the main player of the final hit, and David McKinnon, Koo Ja-wook and Ryu Ji-hyuk, who drew the first arch of the season, recorded multi-hits side by side. On the mound, while Connor Seabold pitched well with four hits, eight strikeouts, two runs and one earned run in six innings, three bullpen pitchers led the opening game win with four scoreless innings. The 88 Save Trio, which Samsung built through the last stove league, shone from the opening game.
Samsung's bullpen that failed to build a must-win group
Samsung, which ranked eighth in the regular season with 61 wins, 1 draw and 82 losses last year, had the most unstable mound among 10 teams with a 4.62 ERA. Notably, since its bullpen ERA reached 5.16, Samsung fans had to worry about whether the game would turn upside down by the end of the game. In fact, Samsung failed to build a reliable bullpen that could be called a "winner group" throughout the last season.
In the midst of a shaky bullpen, Oh's fighting spirit shone tremendously. Oh had a 3.45 ERA, the highest since 2010 (4.50) when he suffered from an injury last year, but he recorded four wins, five losses, 30 saves and two holds in 58 games, ranking him with 30 saves and an unprecedented 400 saves for the third consecutive year. Oh, who became the first free agent in the KBO League after the end of last year's season, stayed with Samsung in January on the condition of a two-year total of 2.2 billion won.
The bullpen pitcher who did his part last year was right-hander Lee Seung-hyun, who moved from LG Twins to Samsung in December 2016 as a compensator for FA Cha Woo-chan. Lee Seung-hyun, who had the worst season in 2021 with a 9.53 ERA, recorded double-digit holds for the second consecutive year with a remarkable 4-4 record of 14 holds 3.60 last year following 13 holds in 2022. Lee Seung-hyun's struggles were definitely outstanding amid the slump of right-handed bullpen pitchers such as Jang Pil-joon, Kim Tae-hoon and Choi Choong-yeon.
Veteran submarine Woo Kyu-min, who spent 21 years in the professional league until last year, played as a must-win group for Samsung, posting 24 holds 3.31 in 2021 and 16 holds 3.26 in 2022. Woo took the mound in 56 games last year, ranking second in holds with 3 wins and 13 holds, but his ERA has risen significantly to 4.81. In addition, Woo was selected by KT as the sixth pick in the first round in the second draft in November last year, and this year he will use Suwon as his home, not Daegu.
Lee Seung-hyun, a left-hander born in 2002, who was drafted in the first round of the 2021 rookie draft and is being nurtured by Samsung, seemed to be growing smoothly as he recorded 2-4, 1 save and 14 hold of 4.53 in 2022, the second year of his pro career. However, he pitched in 48 games and played 43.1 innings last year, slowing down to 1-5, 5 save and 7 hold of 4.98. Lee plans to take on a new challenge as a starting pitcher, not as a bullpen this year.
Winning the opening game with four scoreless innings
Samsung, which has increased anxiety in its bullpen compared to last year, including Lee Seung-hyun's change of starting pitcher, Woo Kyu-min's transfer, and Oh Seung-hwan, who is getting a year older, has stepped up efforts to strengthen its bullpen through the Stove League. First of all, Samsung recruited Kim Jae-yoon, a league-class closer with 30 saves for the last three consecutive years and 169 saves in total for a total of 5.8 billion won for four years in November last year. Kim is not a young pitcher in his 20s, but since he is eight years younger than Oh, chances are high that he will keep the back door of Samsung in the future.
Samsung's bullpen session did not stop at recruiting Kim Jae-yoon. In January, Samsung signed another veteran bullpen pitcher Lim Chang-min, who has 122 saves and 57 holds, to a two-year deal worth 800 million won (approx. Kim Jae-yoon, Oh Seung-hwan and Lim Chang-min, who joined Samsung, respectively, worked as finishing pitchers for K, Samsung, and Kiwoom Heroes last year, ranking second, tied for third, and sixth in the save category. The total number of saves that the three closer recorded last year alone reached 88.
The performance of the trio of finishing touches that Samsung built through last winter was stellar from the opening game. Manager Park Jin-man deployed Lim Chang-min in the seventh inning when the team was tying 2-2 at the opening game against KT on Sunday. Lim walked leadoff hitter Hwang Jae-gyun, but struck out Jang Sung-woo and Chun Sung-ho, and allowed no run in the first inning. Kim Jae-yoon, who took the mound in the eighth inning, also displayed shaky control by allowing three walks, but did not allow a run as he flew Kang Baek-ho with two outs.
In the ninth inning, Oh took the mound as scheduled. Oh easily finished the ninth inning with three batters and took the mound in the bottom of the 10th inning when Samsung scored four runs in offense in the top of the 10th inning. Oh allowed a hit to Bae with one out, but became the winning pitcher as he caught Kim Min-hyuk with a fly to center and Jung Joon-young with a rookie strikeout. The three pitchers, who served as closing pitchers last year, wore Samsung's blue uniforms and pitched four scoreless innings in the opening game, driving the team's victory.
As winning the opening game was important, Lim Chang-min threw 20 pitches and Kim Jae-yoon and Oh Seung-hwan threw 19 pitches side by side, but in fact, the "finishing trio" cannot take responsibility for the second half of the game throughout the season. Therefore, support from other bullpen pitchers such as Lee Seung-hyun, Kim Tae-hoon, Lee Jae-ik, transfer students Choi Sung-hoon and Yang Hyun is essential. When the "88 save trio" and the rest of the bullpen pitchers are in harmony, Samsung will finally be able to build the most outstanding bullpen in the league.
- Misty Copeland, first African American Female Principal Dancer with the American Ballet Theatre