Kiwoom Heroes An Woo-jin (24) talked about a new pitch, the forkball.
An Woo-jin had his best season last season, going 15-8 with an ERA of 2.11 in 30 games (196 innings). He recorded 224 strikeouts, ranking second in the KBO league’s history for the most strikeouts in a single season, and won two pitcher crowns (average earned runs, strikeouts). After the season, he won the Golden Glove and was recognized as the best pitcher in the KBO League.
Ahn Woo-jin, whose trademark is a fastball with a maximum speed of nearly 160 km/h, is also gradually improving his breaking pitches, such as sliders, curveballs, and changeups. In particular, the changeup learned from Ryu Hyun-jin (Toronto) is making hitters’ heads more complicated as the usage rate increases every year.
Ahn Woo-jin said, “I learned the changeup from Ryu Hyun-jin in early 2021. From then on, the changeup portion started to increase, and it increased even more last year. It is more important how you feel than how you throw or how you throw. Senior Ryu Hyun-jin told me that the most important thing is where to look and throw. I threw it in the direction you told me, so the ball went and fell evenly. In particular, he emphasized that the changeup should fall outside the batter even if it falls because it becomes a loss if it is rolled into the batter. Thank you very much for letting me know in detail.”메이저사이트
Last year, Ahn Woo-jin surprised everyone by throwing a forkball in the KIA game on June 29 as well as a changeup. Even though he was just learning, he had good results, such as turning Na Seong-beom into a strikeout. However, An Woo-jin did not throw a forkball after that game.
Ahn Woo-jin said, “There is a reason I threw a forkball once. When I saw (Kim) Tae-Hoon hyung and other pitchers throwing forkballs fall in front of the home plate, batters swinging, I thought, ‘How comfortable would it be to throw that ball? I thought it would be easy to strike out.” He explained why he threw the forkball, “I felt like throwing a forkball on 2 strikes would end it and that’s it.”
He had good forkball power and good results, but he has no plans to throw a forkball anymore at this point. Ahn Woo-jin said, “I was tempted by the forkball, so I learned forkball from coach Shin Seong-young, but every time he threw it, my hands were a little sore and sore. When he pitched experimentally last season, the results were good, but he has no intention of pitching in the future.” He emphasized that he will not throw a forkball forward.
An Woo-jin decided not to add a forkball, but he still throws powerful pitches. I had the best season last year, and my goal is to continue the good flow this season. In particular, we plan to reduce walks more actively. An Woo-jin said, “In 2019, Lindblom threw close to 200 innings, but only gave up 29 walks. It won’t be that easy, but I want to reduce my walks even more.”