‘Living Legend’ Yang Hyun-jong (34) is closing in on the record books.

With 164 wins as of the 21st, Yang is second on the KBO’s all-time wins list. The leader is former Hanwha Eagles coach Song Jin-woo, who has 210 wins.

Yang needs 47 more wins to become the all-time wins leader. Even at an average of 10 wins per year, that’s four more seasons. Of course, Yang hasn”t given up on winning the most games.

He has another record right now. The most starts of all time. Of his 164 wins, 162 of them are starts. Former coach Song Jin-woo only had 163 of his 210 wins as starts and 47 as relief wins.

If Yang Hyun-jong adds a win in his next start, he will tie the all-time record for most starts. Any subsequent wins will be a new record.

Yang failed to add a win in his last start of the first half, on the 13th against the Gwangju Samsung Lions. Despite giving up three runs (two earned) in five innings, the previously red-hot batting line-up could only muster one run, leaving him with the loss and the record for most wins in a start.

After that, the schedule went south. Yang has yet to pitch in the second half of the season. He was originally scheduled to start one game of a three-game weekend series against the Doosan Bears starting on the 21st. To be precise, he was likely to pitch behind new foreign pitchers Mario Sanchez and Thomas Pannoni.

However, the 22-23 games were rained out. For the first game of the week (Tuesday 25th) against the Changwon NC Dinos, Panoni was also announced as the starter. He joined the team as a substitute at the end of the first half and needs to regain his feel for the game. His appearance against Samsung Electronics on the 12th was echoed by KIA manager Kim Jong-guk, who said, “He needs to throw at least one game before the end of the first half.” Although Panoni played for KIA last season (2022), the team wanted him to acclimatise to the KBO as soon as possible.

Yang Hyun-jong did not do badly. He played the first half of the season without leaving the rotation. He also attended the All-Star Game. That’s plenty of time to recharge. In 125 career games (including relief appearances) with more than seven days between starts, Yang has a 3.67 ERA. He hasn’t been swayed by feel issues. Age beyond mid-30s. No need to push yourself.스포츠토토

It’s unfortunate that he’s been delayed. After reaching 162 career wins against the LG Twins on 27 May, ranking second on the all-time list, he has another chance to reach the milestone. It could also be a morale booster for Kia, which is looking to move up in the standings.