Which provided a foothold for his team to win by throwing many innings.
KT, the youngest team, had a weak mound. The 20QS set by Dustin Nippert and Ryan Pierband in 2018, respectively, was the highest record in a single season in the team since its foundation. In 2021, when he returned from military service, Ko started aiming for this record, and achieved the highest number of QSs in the league, 21 times. Ko Young-pyo, who recorded 21 QSs last year, also led the KT mound this year with 21 QSs while playing 17 QS+ (more than seven innings and less than three earned runs).
Pitchers in the league show that it is not easy for a starting pitcher who plays up to 30 games in a season to finish more than two-thirds of the time with a QS. Ko is the first pitcher who has scored more than 20 QSs in three consecutive years.
Although it is a difficult record, there is no special title given to quality start. The competition categories for starting pitchers awarded by KBO are ERA, multiple wins, strikeouts and winning percentage. Like Ko Young-pyo, innings and quality start, which many aces are attached to, remain only as records.
Over the past three years when KT became a strong team, Ko Young-pyo has become a complete ace in KT and league. He attends various professional baseball awards ceremonies held in winter every year. This year, the best performance of the three years, he has been invited to award ceremonies hosted by various media companies and players’ associations to receive several pitcher awards.
Now, Ko Young-pyo is dreaming of a different goal. He is determined to achieve the highest goal ever.
“There are more things that I am satisfied with this year. Still, if I feel sorry for that, I have never won an individual title,” Ko Young-pyo said. “I want to continue to pursue quality start with the mindset that I need to do better, but I also want to try title holder and prepare for next year.”
Ko Young-pyo, an accomplished ace who always throws complete games and shutouts at least once a year, ranked third in ERA (2.92) in 2021, and fourth and fifth in multiple wins (13 wins) last year and this year (12 wins). He is always in the top rankings in the competition category awarded by the KBO, but he has never ranked first. There have always been overwhelming pitchers. Today, Ko Young-pyo is aiming to become No. 1 next year in order to overcome the limit.
Ko Young-pyo said, “I’ve never played baseball with a desire for individual titles, but I thought I wanted to win first place in ERA. This year, I’m going to play with the idea that I have to do better next year because NC has made such an overwhelming record.”메이저놀이터
Ko Young-pyo has already taken a short break this year after making efforts to improve his ball speed by going to a training center in Miami last off-season and doing new training to improve his ball speed. He started individual training for next season as part of his personal training from July 4.
“Now, I think I need to take the direction that suits me and supplement it with training rather than technique. At the end of the season, I think I need to make more efforts to maintain my physical strength and speed. I will also prepare well to throw well next year,” Ko said.