For Kim Won-joong (31) of the Lotte Giants, 2024 is the most important year in his baseball career. He will become a free agent after completing this season. The prospects are bright, too. As of Thursday, Kim has played in 30 games this season, recording three losses and 16 saves with an earned run average of 2.41.

What stands out is the fork ball, which is its main weapon. Its driving rate is 52.4 percent, which is higher than that of last year. The hit rate of the fork ball is 0.118, which is the lowest in the league. The induction rate of ground balls (51.6 percent) has increased significantly from last year (31.6 percent).

Kim Won-joong, who met with this newspaper on Monday, said, "Fork ball is always thrown the same way. I think the good result is because he combined the catcher's and the pitch. I think the catcher said he liked to drop out, so I think he threw it more confidently and got a good result."여우알바

Many folk ball pitchers are struggling to adapt to the automatic pitching decision system (ABS) introduced this year. This is why Kim Won-joong's record is quite unusual. ABS sets the strike standard slightly higher than the existing umpire's. For this reason, folk ballers who drop their pitches low are having difficulty.

"Most forkball pitchers find it difficult," Kim Won-joong said of ABS. "I threw a low fastball and faced a batter with a fork ball that fell from the same trajectory, but as the low zone narrowed, (such pitching) became difficult." Still, he said, "I am not very conscious when throwing. Anyway, the ball left my hand as soon as I threw it. There is nothing I can do about the result. If it falls well, the batter will fall for it, and if it falls out a little, it will just be a ball."

"Fork ball is a dangerous game if you are pushed into a high zone," Kim Won-joong said. "The introduction of ABS has already been decided. I don't think it's a problem if I like a player or not. I just try to throw (fork ball) low by paying attention. It's a difficult job as a fork ball pitcher, but I just try to concentrate more when throwing. I think I got a good result because of my luck."

To Kim Won-joong, FA is just not going as I please. "What may happen in the rest of the season? It's too early to think about FA," Kim said. "I just focus on every day. I only think about one keyword every day: 'What should I do today' and 'How should I take care of myself tomorrow?'" Kim said.

"I don't pay attention to things that I can't control. If you just do what you can, the season ends. Then the result comes out, and I can accept that," Kim Won-joong said. "After moving to the bullpen, I naturally had this idea. (The ending) is a place where there is no time to be drunk or to dwell on even if the result is good or bad."

While keeping the back door silent, Lotte bullpen began to recover as well. setup man Koo Seung-min, Kim Won-joong's "partner," recovered his skills after May (2.61) unlike his 21.94 ERA through April. "I have talked positively with Seung-min. I invite him on purpose to eat health food because I like to eat," Kim said with a smile. "I believed Seung-min would eventually come up, and that was the case. Bullpool pitchers cannot get better if they are good alone. I promise to do well with my juniors."