"Three turns of magic, a change-up that has become ordinary,"
Hope lies in the fourth. Due to the belated entry into the camp, preparation time was short. He threw a bullpen session for Okinawa, Japan, where the second Hanwha camp will be held on Feb. 23. Considering that the camp started on Feb. 1, the team started its training about three weeks late. Although the team trained individually before signing a contract with the Hanwha Eagles, the atmosphere and intensity of the training are inevitably different. He played fewer games in actual games than in late camps. He never played in actual games during the Okinawa camp. From a game against Daejeon Blue and White on March 7 to an exhibition game against Lotte on March 17, he played only three games before the regular season. When he was in the Major League, Ryu pitched four to five times during exhibition games. In 2013, when it was his first season in the big league, he pitched seven times before starting the regular season. Despite lack of preparation time, he was selected as the starting pitcher for the opening game on March 23. He was only given a month from joining the camp to the first game of the regular season. It can be said that he has faced a pennant race in a state that is not perfect physically. The reason was revealed in his last three appearances. He had a batting average of 0.224 up to the point when the opponent team's batting lineup rotates twice. However, his batting average soared to 80 percent when the team rotates three times. In terms of the number of pitches thrown, he had a batting average of 0.220 down from 60 pitches and a batting average of 0.609 down from 61 pitches. He will become a completely different pitcher from the beginning and the middle of the game. That was the case against Kiwoom in Gocheok on the 5th. He was hit hard from the point when the number of pitches exceeded 60. He allowed no runs until the fourth inning, but allowed nine runs in the fifth inning alone. He played the worst game that was not seen in the KBO League as well as in the ML in the past. His physical strength can be enhanced through actual games. From the Blue and White games on March 7 to the Kiwoom game, he participated in a total of six games this year. Based on his ML days, the match against Doosan in Jamsil can be the opening game of the regular season. He is also uneasy. He has poor ball power. I'm not talking about fastballs. No pitcher maintains his ball speed forever. The average speed of fastballs measured in the past three games is not a problem. "Ryu Hyun-jin is not a ball-type pitcher. He is an outstanding pitcher. I thought he could be the oldest pitcher in the KBO league with his skills," Sohn Hyuk, the Hanwha Eagles' general manager, once said about his eight-year contract with Ryu. His technique comes from his breaking ball. Ryu's signature breaking ball is changeup. However, his changeup has been steadily declining since 2020. During the 2019 ML career high season, Ryu's changeup hit rate increased every year, however, and last year, his hit rate fell to minus 2.1. Due to his seemingly disappearing changeup, he has reduced the number of swing and miss strikeouts. He also has a high hit rate of 0.385 this season. The task is clear: improvement of physical strength and sense of play. and revival of changeup. Of course, Hanwha manager Choi Won-ho is well aware of this as well. "When the number of pitches increases, I feel like I'm not used to it. It is true that fewer games were played prior to the season than in the U.S.," Choi said on Wednesday. "Of course, it is best to adjust to the number of pitches we have played. However, we need to prepare ourselves. On the game on Tuesday, we will have our bullpen ready faster than before."