The Kia Tigers has never produced a save king since changing its name to Kia. The Tigers' last save king must go back as far as 26 years ago. He was Lim Chang-yong in 1998. In that time, Lim had eight wins, seven losses, 34 saves and a 1.89 ERA in 59 games while playing in the Haitai uniform.

Since Lim Chang-yong, KIA's challenge to save the king has not been smooth. Starting with Lee Kang-chul's rise to fifth place with 14 saves in 2002, Jin Pil-joong (19 saves, 5th place) in 2003, Shin Yong-woon (11 saves) in 2004, Yoon Seok-min (19 saves, 5th place) in 2006, Han Ki-joo (25 saves, 5th place) in 2007, Han Ki-joo (26 saves, 3rd place) in 2008, Yoo Dong-hoon (22 saves, 5th place) in 2010, Anthony LeLou (20 saves, 6th place) in 2013, Hiro Asensio (20 saves, 5th place) in 2014, Yoon Suk-min (30 saves, 3rd place) in 2016, Lim Chang-yong (15 saves, 9th place) in 2017, Kim Se-hyun (18 saves, 6th place) in 2018, Yoon Suk-min (11 saves, 10th place), Moon Kyung-chan (24 saves, 5th place) in 2019, and Jeon Sang-hyun (15 saves, 10th place) in 2020 tried unsuccessfully to become the save king.

Since Lim Chang-yong, the pitcher had made only six 20 saves and one 30 save before his arrival. He failed to foster a long-running finisher and recruit the pitcher properly. That is why Matt Williams said the best thing he did was to find and hire a finisher, Jeong Hae-young.

Jung immediately secured the finish line in 2021, his second year since joining the team in the first round of nominations in 2020. He ranked third with 34 saves in 2021, third with 32 saves in 2022, and seventh with 23 saves in 2023, respectively. During this period, Kia's performance was not even the top class in the league, and its performance was also far from the top class.

However, Kia is said to have the strongest capacity since 2017. And it upgraded Jung Hae-young as well. Kia has a golden opportunity to become the best relief pitcher in 26 years since 1998. In eight games this season, Jung has seven hits, eight strikeouts, two walks and no runs, and eight saves in eight ⅓. He is ranking first in the league, beating over Chung Cheol-won (Doosan Bears) with six saves.

He is a "zero man" with a 100 percent save success rate. Despite Kia's increasing number of injuries, its depth has improved significantly, resulting in frequent save situations. In addition, Jung Hae-young is showing signs of overcoming last year's slump and taking over the baton, the best closing pitcher in the league, since Ko Woo-suk (San Diego Padres).

Jung Hae-young recorded an ERA of 2.92 with 23 saves and one hold in 52 games last year. Although the number of saves decreased from 2021 and 2022, he recorded an ERA of two points. However, his WHIP was 1.48, the highest since he played as a setup man in the 2020 season. According to the statistics of baseball statistics sites, his FIP was also high at 4.24.

However, Jung's WHIP for this season is 1.08, the best since his debut. His FIP has also been significantly lowered to 2.53. A closing pitcher should minimize the number of hits to instill stability in the bench and teammates anyway. Although Jung is not the type to strike out a lot, his pitching is the best since he settled down as the closing pitcher beyond last year.

It is also effective to visit the Seattle Driveline Baseball Center for a month. Jung Hae-young confessed at the spring camp in Canberra, Australia in February that correcting the pitching balance at that time worked. Right after the Asian Professional Baseball Championship, he heard bitter criticism from national team coach Ryu Joong-il that he only throws the ball with his upper body, but Jung seems to have solved this problem.