Flying high again: Eagles soar in KBO standings thanks to dominant pitching
Carried by a dominant pitching staff, the Hanwha Eagles have reeled off seven straight wins to soar to second place in the Korea Baseball Organization (KBO) standings.
Once again, they are trying to instill hope in a long-suffering fan base that has seen their club in the postseason just once in the past 17 years.
The Eagles were in first place after a 7-1-0 (wins-losses-ties) start in 2024 but they found themselves in the league cellar by late May after going 12-28-1 in their next 41 games, a skid that cost manager Choi Won-ho his job. They would go on to miss the postseason by six games. The 2024 Eagles turned out to be a mirage, a deeply flawed team that only teased their fans for a few days and gave them false hope.
This year, they're sitting at 14-11-0, after winning 10 out of their past 11. And there are signs that this year's Eagles just might be for real, thanks to starting pitching that many pundits had predicted would be their strength.
During their current seven-game streak, all five of their starters notched at least a win, with Moon Dong-ju, whose win started the run on April 13, and Cody Ponce each getting two wins apiece.
This seven-game winning streak by starting pitchers has tied the franchise record set in 2001.
Moon, a 21-year-old who suffered a shoulder injury late last season and had a delayed start to spring training, has been rock solid with a 3.68 ERA in 22 innings over five starts. Moon has struck out 24 and walked only two, and has an outstanding, if unsustainable, walk rate of 2.3 percent -- down from 7.6 percent last year and 8.3 percent in his Rookie of the Year campaign in 2023.
Ponce, a former big leaguer in his first KBO season, has been overpowering. He has a league-leading 56 strikeouts in 39 innings, 14 more than the next closest pitcher, Kenny Rosenberg of the Kiwoom Heroes. Ponce has struck out 37.3 percent of the batters he has faced, also tops in the KBO.
Ponce threw seven shutout innings and gave up one hit in each of his past two starts, while recording 25 strikeouts combined.
Closer Kim Seo-hyeon has been locking things down in the ninth inning. The 20-year-old has yet to allow a run in 10 2/3 innings so far.
Together, Moon, Ponce and Kim have been among the hardest-throwing pitchers in the KBO.
According to the KBO, Moon owns six of the 10 fastest pitches thrown this season, including the fastest pitch at 159.668 kilometers per hour (kph), or about 99.2 miles per hour. Kim has three of the top 10 and his fastest checked in at 158.378 kph.
Kim has the highest average fastball velocity at 154 kph, and Ponce has the highest average velocity among starting pitchers at 153 kph.
Ponce has topped out at 157.107 kph, and another Eagles starter, Ryan Weiss, has touched 157.222 kph.
Rookie setup man Jeong Woo-joo has thrown a fastball at 155.91 kph.
The KBO said 11 pitchers have thrown a pitch at over 155 kph, and five of them play for the Eagles.
While velocity doesn't always translate to wins, it can still strike fear into hitters. Given the way the Eagles' rotation is built, their opponents are bound to run into at least one starter throwing 150 kph heat in a three-game series. And if the Eagles take a late lead, they can trot out their flamethrowing relievers.
Lost in the vapor trails of these blazing fastballs is Ryu Hyun-jin, former major league ERA champion who recently quipped he is bringing down the rotation's average fastball velocity. Though Ryu no longer overpowers hitters as he once did, he has still been an effective pitcher thanks to his guile.
He has a 2-0 record with a 2.54 ERA after five starts, which include a couple of scoreless outings.
The Eagles' bats have also woken up. They have scored 49 runs during their seven-game run, the most in the KBO in that span. Slugger Roh Si-hwan, after a slow start, has homered in three straight games and he is now tied for the KBO lead with eight home runs and 20 RBIs.
He led the league in those two categories when he was the runner-up for the regular-season MVP award in 2023. (Yonhap)
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