RSS Feed

Tech Support

Hwang Dong-ha (20), a substitute starter for the KIA Tigers, once showed his potential. He played 4⅔ innings (4 hits, 2 home runs, 1 walk, 3 runs) after performing an alternative starting mission against the Daegu Samsung Lions on the 20th of last month. The result was a match against Nodisi, and even though the team tied the score, the bullpen shook and lost 4-6, but Hwang Dong-ha's pitch on the day definitely made a deep impression. After overcoming the crisis of losing a point in the first inning, he finished the second inning with a full withdrawal.

Hwang Dong-ha, who took the mound again with the game suspended for 88 minutes due to a sudden downpour, handled three batters well after the leadoff hitter's walk to prevent a run. He allowed solo shots in the fourth and fifth innings, but he threw the ball firmly and handed over the mound to the bullpen. It was impressive to aggressively target the strike zone with a fast tempo by pitching immediately without shaking his head at catcher Kim Tae-gun's sign. Compared to the match against KT on June 23, the first substitute starting game, four hits, one home run, one walk, two strikeouts and three runs in two innings, he showed a much more stable performance and an inning performance.

Hwang Dong-ha, who wore a KIA uniform in the seventh round of the second round of the 2022 rookie draft, did not receive much attention when he joined the team. However, since last year, he has steadily improved his skills by taking starting classes from the Futures (second-tier) team and drew attention as he made results in the first-tier call-up this year. As a result, he was selected as an alternative starting resource along with Kim Gun-guk (35) and Kim Jae-yeol (27), and got a chance on the first division mound.

KIA suffered a crushing defeat of 2-12 against LG in Gwangju on the 8th. After losing 0-3 against the Doosan Bears in Jamsil after winning nine consecutive games earlier, he lost two consecutive games. In the first game of the doubleheader, which has a significant physical burden, KIA threw Hwang Dong-ha. The key is whether it can calm the heat of the LG lineup, which exploded by scoring 12 points the previous day. Hwang Dong-ha's pitching will inevitably increase its importance in that it determines the consumption of pitchers in the first round of the doubleheader and the flow until the second round. Still, the road to autumn is a long way off. Attention is focusing on whether a second-year pitcher will be able to save KIA, which has been stagnant due to cracks in the starting lineup and the aftermath of consecutive losses.