KIA Tigers' third-year left-hander Yoon Young-cheol (21) has shown sluggish performance much longer than expected. Attention is also focusing on whether the KIA bench will make a decision amid apparent need for adjustment.메이저사이트

Yoon Young-chul started the away game of the 2025 Shinhan SOL Bank KBO League against the Doosan Bears at Jamsil Baseball Stadium in Songpa-gu, Seoul on the 18th and became a losing pitcher with three hits, five walks and two runs in two ⅔ innings.

The 2025 season for Yoon, who is entering his third KBO league, is tough from the beginning. He has three losses and earned run average (ERA) of 15.88 in three games this season, which is not very good. His batting average is a whopping 0.484. The average on-base plus ratio (WHIP) is also very high at 4.24. Above all, the starting pitcher's ability to digest innings, which is the biggest virtue, has significantly declined. He thus played three games and five ⅔ innings on average, in which he failed to perform even two innings per game. He also has high walks with nine in three games.

Not only the players but also the team members seem to be taken aback. Yoon, who had eight wins and seven losses and an ERA of 4.04 in 25 games in the 2023 season, his debut season, was not bad at 7 wins and four losses and an ERA of 4.19 in 18 games in the 2024 season. However, both results and processes have not been good since the beginning of this season.

"I hope today's game will be a turning point," Kia Tigers coach Lee Bum-ho said of Yoon ahead of the match against Doosan Bears on Wednesday. "I hope today's game will be a turning point. He needs to grow further. If baseball is not good this year, it can be good next year. Some players are getting better even if they don't start well in the season. The most important thing to do is not to be swayed mentally and psychologically when playing 144 games."

Yoon was shaky from the first inning, however. He gave up a straight walk to leadoff hitter Chung Soo-bin and then gave up the walk to the next Park Gye-beom. Cave also had a timely hit to the right. He then induced Yang Eui-ji to ground out to the shortstop to catch a double play, and managed to turn Yang Seok-hwan to the left field with a fly ball. Yoon made the second inning the only inning with three outs, but that was it.

It was Yoon who showed signs of nervousness again in the third inning. He allowed leadoff hitter Cho Ha-sung to walk, and steal a base and a timely hit. He regained his breath by catching a double play, but had a hit, a walk, and a walk, putting the two outs and the bases loaded, putting him back on the verge of a crisis. Then, the KIA bench raised Hwang Dong-ha, who was warming up. Hwang Dong-ha drew a wild hit from Kang Seung-ho, who followed him, to keep Yoon's earned run at two points.

Another cause for concern is that Yoon's average speed of throwing 60 pitches dropped significantly on the day. Although he is not a fastball player, he recorded 139 kilometers on average on fastballs in the previous two matches, but his average speed of pitches dropped to 135 kilometers in Thursday's game. He even had more balls (31) than strikes (29).