With military service on horizon, pitcher hoping to leave Tigers on positive note

By Yoo Jee-ho

DAEGU, Oct. 27 (Yonhap) -- Over the past three seasons, Kia Tigers reliever Jung Hai-young has gone from one of the top closers in South Korean baseball to a pitcher who could no longer be trusted in key spots.

The fall has been jarring. In 2024, Jung became the first closer to top the All-Star fan voting in Korea Baseball Organization (KBO) history. He led the league with 31 saves that year and helped the Tigers win the Korean Series title.

In 2025, Jung picked up 27 saves, his fifth consecutive campaign with more than 20 saves.

But Jung got off to a rocky start to the 2026 season. He even spent time in the minor league and eventually lost his closer role midway through the campaign. He finished with a 6.12 ERA, by far the worst mark of his seven-year career, and settled for just two saves.

This year, Jung was charged with a career-worst 34 earned runs in 50 innings. Two years ago, he allowed just 14 earned runs in 50 2/3 innings.

Jung had not been trusted in high-leverage situations this postseason until Monday night, during the first game of the second round against the Samsung Lions in the southeastern city of Daegu. Jung was brought in on short notice during the bottom of the fifth inning, after starter James Naile was automatically ejected for hitting an opposing hitter in the head.

Naile had been cruising along, giving up just one hit, while the Tigers had staked him a 5-0 lead. It may not have seemed like a tough spot for Jung, but he had to warm up quickly and prevent the Lions from grabbing the momentum with the anticipation among the sellout crowd of 23,550 building.

Jung limited the damage to just a run, and the Tigers went on to win the game by 5-1. Manager Lee Bum-ho praised Jung's work for helping the team steal the road win.

In the previous series against the LG Twins, relievers like Sung Yeong-tak, Kwak Do-gyu, Cho Sang-woo and Jeon Sang-hyun had been in Lee's circle of trust, with Jung only taking the ball when the Tigers had a comfortable lead during their three-game sweep.

Ahead of the series against the Lions, Jung said Sunday he had not quite figured out what had been ailing him this year.

"I think some of it is mental," Jung said. "But if I knew the exact cause of my problems, I would have been out of my slump already. Baseball is such a tough game to crack. The more you play, the more difficult it gets. There are days when I am feeling great and I get knocked around, but also days when I am feeling terrible but still getting outs."

Jung said he was itching to take the mound in situations when the Tigers were protecting slim leads in earlier games, but also acknowledged that he knew better pitchers were getting a chance in those spots.

"Yeong-tak, Sang-woo, Do-gyu and Sang-hyun have been unbelievable and that is why I have not been getting chances to pitch," Jung said. "So I have been putting in extra work to get ready and to join them. I know I have not come close to meeting expectations and I just have to be better. I have been feeling guilty all season about the way I have been pitching and I really want to do better in the postseason."

Jung, who is scheduled to begin his mandatory military service in December, said he wants to leave a more positive lasting impression on the Tigers fans before his departure.

"I hope to get an opportunity to put my bad regular season out of people's minds," Jung said. "I don't have that many games left to pitch in my Kia Tigers uniform, maybe four games maximum. I want to have a good finish."

jeeho@yna.co.kr
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