Jang Sung-woo shares his thoughts on the automatic ball judgment system (ABS), which he learned firsthand while playing catcher.
KT won 9-0 against Hanwha in the 2024 Shinhan SOL Bank KBO League at KT Wiz Park in Suwon, South Korea, on Friday.
Jang, who started the game as the No. 5 hitter and catcher, went 2-for-2 with two doubles, including the game-winning home run, one home run, two walks, two runs scored and two RBIs. He also helped rookie Won Sang-hyun earn his first win as a catcher.
After the game, Jang said, “I tried to throw the pitches that would get the most strikes. The Hanwha hitters were more aggressive overall from yesterday. Benjamin usually pitches fastballs, but yesterday he threw a lot of cutters, sliders, and curveballs, and today he threw a changeup rather than fastballs to catch the count and then went to curveballs or fastballs. I think the defense helped me by letting them hit a lot of pitches, so I think the results were good,” he explained his pitching plan.
He emphasized the importance of his changeup. “His best pitches are fastballs and curveballs,” said Jang. “As a catcher, I feel that Korean hitters are the type of hitters who will hit the fastball no matter how fast it is, and if the curveball is not good enough, they will still hit it after two strikes,” he said. “In Korea, the changeup is better. If you look at the guys who are doing well, they always have a good changeup,” he said.
“(Won) has a really good fastball and curve, so I mixed it up with the feeling that the changeup just takes away a little bit of timing, not that the changeup itself is good, but that it takes away timing between the fastball and curve. I threw it a lot today because it was working well,” he said.
He also shared his thoughts on ABS. “I think veterans have a harder time with ABS because they’ve been playing for a long time and have a lot of experience, like, ‘This is 토토사이트 a ball. It’s a strike,'” he said, adding, “Hyun-jin (Ryu) is also a very good pitcher, but when you start to see one or two pitches that you’ve been getting struck by for 20 years, you have no choice but to push them up the middle. Hitters also have no choice but to leave the bat on that side of the plate if it’s what they think it is and they keep calling strikes.”
Before the 25th game, Ryu claimed that the strike zone was different in the ABS on the 23rd and 24th. “I didn’t notice anything different,” he said, but added, “Even the umpire seniors say things like, ‘I think this is a strike, but the machine doesn’t say it.’ I’m getting used to it by talking a lot. We talk a lot and I’m getting used to it,” he explained.
He added, “I’m not very sensitive, but if (Ryu) Hyun-jin felt that way, I think it could be possible for him.”