Veteran players who have played in the league for a long time have some degree of perfection in their skills, with only differences in player quality 토토사이트. Their performance remains more stable than that of younger players who still lack experience. I also have first-hand experience with the game situation and how to survive the season. So they are relative ‘constants’.
There is a reason why veterans are preferred on the coaching staff. Because it is easy to calculate. Based on the data accumulated so far, we decided that ‘we can do it to this extent’ and created a framework for power. On the other hand, focusing on young players without much data is close to gambling. No team does that. However, harmony is needed. It is not a new phenomenon that the word ‘harmony of old and new’ dominates 10 teams every spring camp.
SSG is the most typical veteran team in the entire league. In particular, the fielding team has a higher proportion of veteran players than other teams. As for the mound, its proportion slowly began to increase as key players aged one by one and younger players served in the military.
In retrospect, it was ultimately the veteran’s strength that enabled SSG to overcome several crises last year and achieve the first-ever KBO feat of winning a ‘wire-to-wire’ combined championship. The power to win in a close situation was amazing. Many of the veterans saved the team whenever it was important. As those veterans took turns, they were able to gain strength and run all the way to winning the Korean Series. It was a quick victory.
However, there are problems with this structure. It is difficult for the team’s performance to expand further. Veteran players’ skills are perfected, but on the contrary, it is not easy for them to develop further. Unless they are miraculous superhumans, they are players waiting for the day when their physical abilities decline. Physical strength is not as good as when you are young. Inevitably, the risk of injury increases. Once you are injured, it takes longer to recover. You can’t just do it when you’re young.
Therefore, the front office and coaching staff must continue to fill in the ranks of players who will follow these veteran players. SSG’s slump in the second half of this season shows that the team is not coping at all.
SSG recorded 44 wins, 27 losses, and 1 draw (.620) until June, when the players had relatively much physical strength left. Basically, they had a good performance with a win rate of over 60%, and they were only 1.5 games behind the leader LG at the time. Conversely, the distance from 3rd place NC was 6.5 games. Considering that the schedule has not yet reached the halfway point, the gap with the top 3 was quite large. But after July, things started to change. Since July, SSG has only 16 wins and 23 losses (.410) in 39 games. The ranking during this period is 7th in the league.
As a result, they lost much of their stable margin of victory and loss, and now, not only have they fallen to 3rd place, they are also suffering from the chase of 4th and 5th places. So why did the team’s performance suddenly drop so much starting in July?
The perspectives from outside and inside the club are aligned on one point. It’s a question of veteran players’ stamina. It was a widely discussed issue that players were having difficulty maintaining physical strength as the days got hotter. The same goes for fielders and bullpen pitchers. Velocity dropped and batting speed plummeted. These are players whose skills will not suddenly disappear, so in the end it was a question of strength.
It is not for nothing that inside the club there is a half-joking saying, “We are waiting for the weather to get cooler.” However, once the stamina is lost, it is unlikely that it will be replenished immediately just because the weather gets a little cooler. In the end, SSG needed powerful young players to take their place from behind when these players lost their strength. However, this is not a trend where such players are at the forefront. We are stuck in the frame of being a veteran team.
Looking at the expanded entry that was implemented on September 1, veteran fielders such as Kim Min-sik and Oh Tae-gon eventually came up. SSG coach Kim Won-hyung is also not unaware of the problems with the current team structure. Coach Kim trailed off, saying, “Actually, young players should join the expanded entry list…” Still, he said, “You can see that the players who will come up have come up.” I understand the problem, but it sounds like it is difficult to completely change the frame.
It is not impossible to understand the stance of Director Kim and the coaching staff. A fierce ranking battle is taking place. This is interpreted as meaning that they expect a rebound from veteran players and will play out the remainder of the season based on that calculation. However, no matter how we survive this year, if things continue like this, next year’s problems may become even bigger. The severity of the problem increases when you look at the number of hits taken by veteran players this year.
Last year, SSG had a total of 1,245 hits. As of last year, the number of hits by players over 33 years old and born before 1990 and foreign batters who can change at any time was 720, or 57.8% of the total. What about this year? As of this year, if you combine the number of hits by players over 33 years old and born before 1991 and foreign players, there are already 606, or 61.8% of the total (980). Even though Heredia’s number of hits is high, it feels like the weight of veterans has not decreased at all. And this proportion shows no signs of decreasing. The current lineup is likely to expand further.
As can be seen from these numbers, the current SSG is no longer a team capable of ‘continuous growth’ or even ‘maintaining performance’. Rather, we are just waiting for the day when it falls. The same goes for the mound. All of the key setup men are in their 30s, and among the starting pitchers, only Oh Won-seok is in his 20s.
Unless a new theory that can deny the aging curve is born, if things continue like this, bigger ordeals await us next year. Will SSG have the ability to catch both grades and preparation? The sooner you prepare, the better. This is likely to be an important factor in determining whether or not he will have another opportunity to run for president during the term of director Kim Won-hyung.