4 Bears' pitchers under spotlight
By Kang Hyun-kyung
Dustin Nippert
Yu Hui-kwan
Jang Won-jun
Michael Bowden
Doosan Bears’ four outstanding pitchers have drawn a media-frenzy in the best-of-seven Korean Series following the team taking leading 2-0 in the first two games against NC Dinos.
The four starting pitchers, better known as the “Fantastic Four (F4)” among sports journalists, are Dustin Nippert, Michael Bowden, Jang Won-jun and Yu Hui-kwan.
In Game 2 of the championship series on Sunday at Jamsil Stadium in southeastern Seoul, Jang was confident and fearless. His pitching strategy overwhelmed the Dinos’ batters.
In the eighth inning when the two teams were tied 1-1, Jang threw a curveball deep inside the plate to strike out the Dinos’ batter Park Min-woo. It was unexpected for a left-hander to throw a curveball in the face of a left-handed batter simply because it could risk his team’s win in the crucial game. With his bold pitching, the Bears blocked the Dinos from scoring further in the eighth inning. The Bears defeated the Dinos 5-1.
In Game 2, Jang allowed only one run on 10 hits over the eight 2/3 innings pitched.
“His ball control was amazing,” said baseball analyst Choi Won-ho. “Before Game 2 of the Korean Series, 40 percent of his pitches were breaking balls. But on Sunday the ratio surged to 70 percent.”
Jang pitched fastballs in the first inning and varied balls pitched in the following innings to make the Dinos’ batters struggle to predict what would come next. “His ball control constantly changed over the next innings. I felt that the Dinos players were duped by the Bears’ pitcher,” said Choi.
Since joining the KBO league, Jang has transformed into a versatile pitcher. He started as a left-hander throwing straight balls and sliders superbly. He started practicing change-ups in 2010 while playing for Lotte Giants.
Jang and the three other F4 pitchers are widely cited as the key drivers behind the Bears’ wins in the regular season. The Bears topped the season with 93 wins and 50 defeats.
Before the opening game of the Korean Series on Oct. 29, some experts worried about the Bears’ 21-day hiatus since their last game in the regular season as a factor that could weaken their competitiveness against the Dinos. The Dinos advanced to the final championship series after defeating LG Twins in a best-of-five playoff series.
The Bears’ four starting pitchers, however, have quelled such concerns over their performance in the Korean Series.
“Nippert, the starting pitcher in Game 1 of the series, is capable of pitching almost all types of balls,” said Choi. “He throws fastballs, breaking balls, sliders and change-ups. He also has the ability to control the movement of the ball and pitches balls that go sharply downward before they arrive at the plate.”
He said Nippert’s high-speed balls are his key weapon.
“The average speed of balls pitched in the Korean Baseball Organization (KBO) league is 142 kilometers per hour or so. But Nippert pitches faster than the average. Combined with the speed of his pitches, his ability to adjust balls to batters makes him a great pitcher,” he said.
His teammate Bowden’s strength comes from his ability to handle forkballs. Batters are troubled when he takes the mound because the balls they thought were outside the strike zone are often called strikes.
Bowden, who joined the KBO league this year, achieved 18 wins with seven defeats in 30 games pitched. His earned run average is 3.80.
Bears’ other left-hander Yu’s secret weapon is sinkers which make it difficult for right-handed batters to hit back.
Bears’ catcher Yang Eui-ji played a certain role behind the F4 pitchers’ outstanding pitching because he calls for the balls that those pitchers are to throw.
“In Game 1 on Saturday, Nippert pitched mostly fastballs that went straight to the plate without major movements in the first two innings. Breaking balls followed in the next inning,” said Choi.
Dinos manager Kim Kyeong-mun admitted the greater role of the Bears’ pitchers in the two games, citing this as a key reason behind his team’s losing streak.
After the Dinos’ defeat in Game 2 on Sunday, he was quoted as saying that the batters should have been more aggressive. He was referring to the disappointing performances of the Dinos’ four main batters ― Na Sung-bum, Eric Thames, Park Sok-min and Lee Ho-joon. The four players pulled together only four hits out of 29 at-bats in Game 1 and 2 combined.