End of ML Regular Season, Grade Sheet for 6 Korean Players

Major League 2003 regular season ended its 162 games with the last game on the 29th.

Leading Korean major leaguer Kim Byeong-hyeon went on the plate to pitch at the 6th inning while the score was 0-0 in the game against Tampa Bay Devil Rays, and struck out 3rd, 4th and 5th batter with no run allowed during the 1 inning. He is continuing his 13 straight games of no earned run, and the team is anticipating his performance in the post season.

Park Chan-ho failed to be successful this season, and new star including Seo Jae-eung and Choi Hee-seop appeared on the front page of the newspaper to forecast a change in generation. The following presents the storms among Korean major leaguers in 2003.

- Kim Byeong-hyeon and Kim Byeong-hyeon

`Nuclear submarine` Kim Byeong-hyeon gambled by changing his role as starter, the first among under-hand pitchers. However, he was hit by the broken bat and injured his ankle by the hitter on April 30th in the game against Florida Marlines, and was traded to Boston on May 30th while discord with his manager Bob Branley occurred again.

He played as starter for another month after the trade, but took the role of closer since July again, leading Boston to the post season. He successfully achieved 16 saves in the 19 opportunities since trade, and marked 3 wins 6 losses with ERA 3.38. He got 6 wins, 4 losses and 16 saves as starter, and the ERA was 3.28 with hit allowing percentage of 0.218.

Seo Jae-eung suffered troubles in 1998 when he had elbow operation since his debut in 1997, but made it to the major league as a full timer this year. He marked 9 wins that is the same as Tom Glavine of Atlanta Braves, and he marked 3rd in wins among his teammates. His ERA is 3.82, which is 2nd among the starters in his team. The 17 quality starts (pitching 6 innings with less than 3 runs allowed) reserved his role as starter next season.

- Choi Hee-seop and Bong Jung-geun who presented possibility

Choi Hee-seop seemed unstoppable in the early phase of the season. He hit 5 homeruns with 14 RBis in April, appointed as one of candidates for Rookie of the year. However, he was injured in the game against New York Yankees while he was trying to catch the high fly ball and was bumped to his teammate Kerry Wood. Since then, he didn`t show any significant performance, maybe because of the aftereffect. He failed in showing his quality as the 1st baseman, and was pushed out as a back-up agent.

Bong Jung-geun did his job perfectly as a relief pitcher until mid phase of the season, but his pace fell afterward and dropped to minor league. Chicago Cubs and Atlanta both achieved victory of the division, but it is unlikely for them to be listed in the starters for the post season. Both will participate in the winter league after the season to improve themselves.

- Park Chan-ho the worst and Kim Sun-woo.

Park`s annual salary is 12 million dollars and he marked 1 win and 3 losses, and the ERA 7.58. There is no excuse allowed for Park. His deep-seated back injury relapsed, and he show mental instability due to manager`s ill gaze. He was evaluated once as ˝being in his limit˝.

Kim Sun-woo convinced his major league advancement this year, but was not successful in the starter competition in the spring camp, and the relation with his manager Frank Robins is still not very well. He is waiting for the day to be traded. Both of them, accidentally, are the members of `Scott Boras Corporation`.

Sang-Soo Kim ssoo@donga.com