Hyeonjong Yang warming up
The best breaking ball for the 2024 season predicted by Yang Hyun-jong is a curve “I will also increase my proportion.”
KIA Tigers Yang Hyeon-jong is warming up at the second spring camp held at Gin Stadium in Okinawa Prefecture, Japan on the morning of the 24th.
The biggest change in the KBO League in the 2024 season is the introduction of the ‘Automatic Ball Decision System’ (ABS).
It is a system in which a so-called ‘robot referee’, a machine, judges strikes and balls instead of the referee, and the KBO secretariat expects that unnecessary friction caused by decisions will be dramatically reduced by applying a uniform strike zone.
Now, pitchers who have left ‘scoring’ to artificial intelligence instead of umpires are each trying to create exemplary answers during this spring camp.
KIA Tigers ace Yang Hyun-jong (35), who is in his 18th year as a professional, cannot avoid this.
On the 24th, Yang Hyun-jong met with reporters at Gin Baseball Stadium in Okinawa Prefecture, Japan, where the KIA Spring Camp was held, and revealed, “I plan to focus on throwing low breaking balls in line with the introduction of ABS.”
With the KBO League referee in charge of the decision, Yang Hyun-jong, who pitched from the bullpen that day, was meticulously asked whether it was a strike or a ball after throwing all the balls.
Yang Hyun-jong ‘With a bright expression’
Thanks to intensive training in preparation for the introduction of ABS, the KBO umpires, who know the strike zone set by ABS to some extent even without equipment, say, “I missed about one ball,” and “In the past, such a ball would have been recognized as a strike, but in the ABS, it is not a ball.” He spared no effort in giving advice, such as ‘There is a high possibility that this will happen.’
Yang Hyeon-jong said, “Specifically, when a left-handed pitcher steps on the mound step on the first base side and throws, a ball that would have previously been ruled a strike can be thrown out if it does not clearly pass the strike zone with the introduction of ABS. Umpires also say, ‘The strike is not generous. He said, ‘No.’ The important thing is that a strike is called only if it passes home plate.”
If a left-handed pitcher throws with his foot on the first base side, it is easy for a right-handed batter to throw the ball into a crowded area outside of the base.
This means that so-called ‘backdoor‘ pitches, which turn outside the strike zone and slightly hit the zone, are no longer recognized. 고스톱사이트