Kiwoom Jang Jae-young is giving up his perfectionism little by little while trying to double as a pitcher. As he intermittently played as a hitter in Geelong Professional Baseball in Australia, he came to understand the minds of hitters facing pitchers with similar velocity, pitch and characteristics.
In other words, Jang Jae-young’s dual wield style is a catalyst that made him realize the common truth that it is okay to put down a bit more than the dual wield itself and play baseball. For the past two years, he has been struggling with his control, but he knows that it is important to look at the position of the catcher’s mitt and throw it without worrying too much about pinpoint control.
Jang Jae-young’s worries are similar to those of Kiwoom Ace Woo-jin An when he was younger. An Woo-jin also had a fast ball in the early days of his debut, but he had a lot of worries because his control and command were not good. So, An Woo-jin had many things he wanted to say to Jang Jae-young, and it was revealed that Jang Jae-young had also consulted with An Woo-jin a lot.
On the 3rd (Korean time), Ahn Woo-jin, who met at Salt River at Talking Stick in Scottsdale, Arizona, USA, where Kiwoom’s spring camp was set up, said, “When Jae-young throws the ball, where does he look and how does he throw it? There were times when I asked in detail how I felt when I was there. When he threw the ball, he was even asked if he was powering his big toe. I never thought about it, but he said what to do with the big toe and what to do with the little toe. The passion for learning is really good.”
After Ahn Woo-jin established himself as an ace, he took good care of Jae-young Jang, playing catch with Jae-young Jang when he was in the first team. He said, “I always tried to play catch with him. He told me how he felt from playing catch. Even when I was playing catch, I thought about pitching and corner work, and it really helped. Concentration on the catch ball is the most important.”
Afterwards, Ahn Woo-jin revealed the secret of his ability to command. He decided to throw the ball toward the catcher’s mitt without putting it in the middle after dividing it into three parts: outside, center, and body. Basically, he had a good pitch, so even if he couldn’t control the pinpoint, he realized that if the ball didn’t go only in the middle on a third-class basis, he wouldn’t be hit hard.
So Ahn Woo-jin believes that Jang Jae-young can also solve the command problem. “Jaeyoung’s strength is his ball speed. If you lose speed and gain control, you become an ordinary pitcher. He can throw the ball hard and catch his first pitch. If you look at his bullpen pitching, his pitches are good and his breaking pitches are also very good.” 메이저놀이터
In the end, Jang Jae-young has no choice but to learn. Ahn Woo-jin said, “To be honest, I don’t really know because I haven’t entered Jae-young’s heart. It could be a psychological problem or it could be because he was ahead of his motivation,” he said cautiously, “I think he’s trying to be too perfect. I wish I could think of it a little easier. In my view, apart from the record, last year was better than when I was a rookie. This year will be better than last year.”
Perhaps the modifier that Jang Jae-young is the son of 900 million people and his father, KIA general manager Jang Jeong-seok, weighs heavily on his shoulders. As Ahn Woo-jin said, all you have to do is let go of his perfectionism and start anew. I also interviewed Jang Jae-young that day, and he said, “The toe question that Woojin asked his older brother was two years ago.” He went to Geelong Korea and tried the dual wield while solidifying his will to grow as a pitcher.