“It’s not a flashy performance. There’s plenty of potential for a long run.”

How did the Lotte Giants get a ‘Cinderella’ named Kyun-an Na? He says it’s no surprise performance, no luck. His success was somewhat foreseen.

Na Kyun-an’s momentum is amazing. It is safe to say that he is the best native right-handed pitcher in the league at this point. On the 27th, Na Kyun-an won his 4th win of the season with an 8 scoreless inning against the Hanwha Eagles. 4 wins, undefeated ERA 1.34. Together with the LG Twins Plutko, they tied for the lead in most wins.

It is flawless. This is the most embarrassing record of 3 runs in 5 innings against the Samsung Lions on the 15th out of the 5 games he pitched this season. But he was a winning pitcher. The rest of the games played more innings and gave up fewer runs. 3 games undefeated.

Lotte played the opening two games against the Doosan Bears in Jamsil. Game 2 on Sunday where you have to pitch in front of a big crowd. When Lotte predicted Na Kyun-an as the starter for the second game, it was a stir. He even put a question mark on whether it was a backwards-thinking rotation. It had to be. This is because he has been in his 4th year as a pitcher and has never shown the performance and record of a 2 starter class.

However, in the first appearance of the trembling season, he overpowered the Doosan lineup with 6⅔ scoreless innings and became the winning pitcher. He said ‘it must have been scratched’. However, when I recorded 7 scoreless innings again in my 2nd appearance against KT Wiz, ‘What? What is this?” came the response.

However, Lotte had confidence in Na Kyun-an. He was only pushed out of the name value, but because he was the best in terms of pitch and pitch. Defensive coach Kyu-Hyun Moon, who served as head coach last season, introduced, “From the second half of last year, we used to talk internally that Na Kyun-an could explode his potential as a starting pitcher.” Na Kyun-ahn, who played in the bullpen last season and established himself as a first-team pitcher, was recognized for his pitch and was put in as a fixed starter at the last minute to gain experience. At this time, his experience gave him confidence, and ahead of this season, he was ready to show off strong performances by preparing for the starter.

What are Na Kyun-an’s strengths? Definitely a strong shoulder. Na Kyun-an was famous as a super high school level catcher. Since then, his shoulder has been recognized. There is only one reason why Lotte turned Na Kyun-an into a pitcher: his shoulder. His innate baseball sense helped here. He has such a good sense that he freely uses various breaking balls. His commands are also top notch. This is not something that can be learned. His fastball is very good, but his forkball is so powerful that it is not easy for batters to cope with it. 크크크벳

The long run seems likely. SPOTV commentator Yang Sang-moon, a pitching expert who has been watching Na Gyun-an since his days as Lotte manager, said, “If he’s not particularly sick, he’ll continue to do well. He’s not sick. He’s very strong.” That’s why I’m looking forward to the future,” he praised.

Na Gyun-an turned into a pitcher in 2020, but it is said that at the beginning he could not abandon his attachment to the catcher, which was his original position. So he couldn’t properly focus on his pitching role. But now he is determined to succeed as a pitcher. It seems that these psychological factors also had a big impact on Na Kyun-an’s upward trend.

Lotte spent a lot of money on the starting lineup this season. He spent a huge amount of 2.25 million dollars (about 3 billion won) on two foreign pitchers. Park Se-woong received 9 billion won in a non-FA long-term contract. This year alone, the annual salary is 1.5 billion won. However, the current ace is Na Kyun-an with an annual salary of 109 million won. The three players with huge salaries combined have won one this season. Officials, including the Lotte leadership, should at least bow to Na Kyun-an. Without Na Kyun-an, this 6-game winning streak would never have happened.