With their bullpen ERA falling to the bottom of the professional baseball league, why didn't the Hanwha Eagles put this player on the protected list? Thanks to Hanwha's decision, the KT Wiz are reaping clear benefits from acquiring a compensation player.
Known as a pitchers' team, manager Lee Kang-cheol's KT Wiz are, as always, racing to second in the team ERA this year (3.91). The only teams with a team ERA in the 3.00s are No. 1 KT and No. 2 the LG Twins (3.29). KT's bullpen is also cruising with the fourth-best ERA (4.80), and compared with last year, the difference is that fireballers throwing over 150 km/h are reliably guarding the back end. The balance of power pitchers and control pitchers is impressive.
The most eye-catching player is veteran Han Seung-hyeok, who left KT and joined as a compensation player for Kang Baek-ho, who signed a four-year, 10 billion won free agent contract with Hanwha. Han Seung-hyeok's season record is 12 games, 1 win, no losses, 5 holds, 1.64 ERA, and he is tied for first in holds alongside Woo Kang-hoon and Jang Hyun-sik (both LG). He has recorded 11 consecutive scoreless appearances since the March 29 game against LG, and in his recent three games he has contributed greatly to KT's leap to sole first place with a line of 1 win, 2 holds and a 0.00 ERA (3 innings, 1 earned run uncharged).
Meeting reporters recently in Suwon, KT manager Lee Kang-cheol beamed and said, "We also have pitchers this year who throw over 150 km/h. Among them, Han Seung-hyeok is doing his role well."
One reason for Han Seung-hyeok's strong outings is manager Lee Kang-cheol's microscopic analysis and inning management as a "pitcher trainer." Referencing data showing that when Han Seung-hyeok pitched more than one inning last year his performance declined, they now assign him a maximum of three outs. Last year Han Seung-hyeok's batting average against was .213 through pitch 15, but it soared to .400 from pitch 16 onward.
Manager Lee Kang-cheol said, "Han Seung-hyeok generally tries to avoid multi-inning appearances. Last season he did well but his performance dropped when he was given multi-inning duties. If we use him with management like this, I think we can make good use of him over a season."
Last year Han Seung-hyeok was a key high-leverage reliever who helped Hanwha reach the Korean Series for the first time in 19 years. He appeared in 71 games, posting a career-high 3 wins, 3 losses, 3 saves, 16 holds and a 2.25 ERA, and his WAR (wins above replacement) on Statiz reached 2.54. That WAR ranked fourth on the team behind Cody Ponce, Ryan Weiss and Ryu Hyun-jin. Therefore, few expected Han Seung-hyeok to be left off the 20-man protected player list.
Nonetheless, Hanwha made the decision to exclude Han Seung-hyeok from the protected player list, and KT immediately exercised its right to designate a compensation player. At the time, KT director general Na Do-hyun expressed considerable satisfaction with the selection, saying, "Han Seung-hyeok is an immediate-impact arm with a powerful fastball topping out at 154 km/h and strengths in breaking pitches, and he will create synergy with the existing pitchers."
After moving to KT, Han Seung-hyeok's salary rose from 94 million won to 300 million won, and he has become a core member of the first-place team's high-leverage group. If this momentum continues, it could become a compensation-player success story that goes down in KBO League history.<
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