Jang Hyun-seok (19) of Masan Yongma High School will pitch in the round of 16 at the Cheongryonggi.

Jang Hyun-seok is set to pitch against Bibongo in the round of 16 of the 78th Cheongnyonggi National High School Baseball Championship at Mokdong Stadium in Seoul on Nov. 21. As the team’s ace, Jang Hyun-seok will likely be called upon to pitch in relief at key moments.

With a fastball that reaches more than 150 kilometers per hour and a great physique (190 centimeters, 90 kilograms), Jang Hyun-seok is considered the biggest name in the 2024 rookie draft, which will be held in September. Major League Baseball teams are also showing a lot of interest in Jang Hyun-seok, so KBO teams and baseball fans are keeping a close eye on whether he will enter the United States.바카라사이트

Jang Hyun-seok pitched in relief in the round of 32 against Gwangju Jeongango on the 18th, but had to pitch until the 19th as the game was declared a suspended game due to rain. The sudden suspension of the game made it difficult for him to adjust to the conditions, but he handled the situation well and pitched 3⅓ innings of scoreless baseball with one hit, one walk and six strikeouts. Jang’s performance helped Yongmago pull off a 4-1 upset.

After reaching a high of 154 kilometers on July 18, Jang’s fastball dropped slightly to 151 kilometers on July 19. In a post-match interview, Jang Hyun-seok said, “It was a little tough physically. Today’s game started early in the morning. I wanted to throw more today, but my body didn’t feel as good as I thought it would, so I came down after only one inning.”

“Today, I felt like a starter, so I wanted to pitch a matchup pitch, but I felt like my fastball didn’t have as much spin as I thought it would, and it didn’t have as much velocity, so I talked about mixing in a lot of changeups and trying to cook the hitters,” said Jang, who got out of trouble with his changeup on the 19th.

Jang said his most confident pitches are his curveball and slider. “I tried throwing a few sweepers, but it didn’t go well because I didn’t have a good one yet. I didn’t like it, so I think I need to practice a little more,” he laughed. The sweeper is a newly categorized pitch in the major leagues this year. It emphasizes lateral movement and has become a popular pitch among pitchers, with Shohei Ohtani (Angels) using it as his main weapon.

Jang Hyun-seok, who revealed that he has not yet decided whether he will enter the major leagues, said, “I can’t answer that yet. I will not comment. I’m leaning toward one side or the other, but it’s not a big difference. It’s about 5-5 or 6-4. There are still a lot of Blue Dragon Games competitions left, so it’s hard to think about my personal career. I will probably decide whether I want to go overseas after the Blue Dragon Games. My parents follow my decisions, so I have to make a decision,” he said, adding that he will decide whether to go overseas after the Blue Dragon Games.

If Jang Hyun-seok, one of the biggest names in this year’s draft, signs with a major league team, it will change the strategy of every team in the draft. In particular, Hanwha, which holds the No. 1 overall pick, and Doosan, which holds the No. 2 overall pick, are likely to have completely different draft strategies. It will be interesting to see what Jang Hyun-seok decides to do now that all eyes are on him.