Geelong Koreain
Geelong Korea, who returned after 3 years, has completed a long 3 month campaign.
Geelong Korea played all 40 regular season schedules, ending with an away game against the Adelaide Giants held at Australia’s Dycolor Stadium on the 22nd.
The final result was 13 wins and 27 losses, 7th overall. Although they failed to advance to the postseason, they recorded their best performance since the 2018/19 season when they entered the Australian Professional Baseball League for the first time.
The team broke the record for the most consecutive wins (four wins in a row) during the season, and on November 20, against Adelaide, they scored 23 points, the most points in a single game.
In terms of personal performance, he left a meaningful report card.
Song Chan-eui, a strong hitter throughout the season, maintained a batting average in the 40% range until the second half of the season and competed for the batting title. The final batting average was 0.324. Song Chan-eui was also named Australian League batsman of the week in rounds 1 and 2.
Ha Jae-hoon’s bat was hot too. Ha Jae-hoon, who played in 21 games, ranked third overall in this category with 11 home runs. If he played full time, he could have become the home run king. Kim Kyu-seong also showed impressive offensive power, recording a 30% batting average (0.281), and late signing Kwon Kwang-min maintained a 30% batting average (0.304).
On the mound, Jang Jae-young’s performance from ‘900 million’ stood out. Jaeyoung Jang, who returned to Korea after round 6, recorded an average ERA of 3.30 with 1 win, 2 losses. In 30 innings pitched, he struck out 37 batters and gave up only 9 walks.
Jang Jae-young enjoyed the joy of being selected as the best pitcher of the week for the 6th round, breaking the record for the most innings by a team by spending 8 innings in his last appearance.
In the bullpen, Choi Ji-min and Kim Tae-hyun, who were responsible for the back door, left good results. Choi Ji-min and Kim Tae-hyun, who had 3 shutouts and 2 saves in tandem, recorded average ERAs of 1.47 and 2.20, respectively.
There were also unusual records. Koo Dae-seong, Geelong Korea’s first coach, returned to the mound as an active player after four years and set a new record as an active professional pitcher in his 50s. Koo Dae-seong, who joined in the 10th round, pitched in 3 games and finished 2.1 innings with an ERA of ‘0’ with no earned runs.
In addition, Ha Jae-hoon and Jang Jae-young took part in the game as a pitcher and hitter in Australia and experienced the ‘double sword’.
A total of 7 KBO teams participated in Geelong Korea this season, and 26 pitchers and 26 batters appeared in the game. A total of 50 players were recorded as Geelong Korea’s 2022/23 season players because Ha Jae-hoon and Jang Jae-young participated in the pitching.
Meanwhile, the Geelong Korea team, which has completed all schedules, will return home via Incheon International Airport on the afternoon of the 23rd. Players arriving at the airport return to their respective teams.
