It’s been a while since I’ve checked in on Jung Sung-ki, the right-handed sidearmer signed by the Braves in 2002 who was forced to return to Korea and fufil his military service requirement in 2005. Jung started the season at Double-A Mississippi. The news isn’t very good.

Through 31 innings in 27 games Jung is 2-2 with an ERA at 6.10. Ouch. He has four saves. On June 19 against the Montgomery Biscuits Jung pitched two innings, giving up two runs on three hits. A few days before that, coming in with the Braves down 4-2 to the Tennessee Smokies, he walked two, hit a batter (Ben Broussard), and threw two wild pitches in the seventh inning en route to giving up two runs.

I haven’t seen Jung pitch myself, so it’s hard to know if his problems are mechanical or if he’s nursing some kind of injury. However I can reveal a very disturbing fact, which is that he’s not getting lefthanded hitters out.

This is always the great danger with sidearm and submarine-style pitchers. They have to show they can get left-handed hitters out. Sidearmers typically swing open their body as they deliver the ball and often fall toward the thirdbase side and a left-handed hitter has that much more time to react to the pitch. This is the reason Kim Byung-hyun is no longer playing professional baseball — last year lefties smacked a .316/.443/.582 line against him. Pat Neshek is probably the best in baseball today and even his career splits, .208/.290/.409 vs. lefties and .176/.229/.298 from the right, show some difficulties.

As I said, I can’t watch Jung pitch, so it’s possible he’s got an injury or something else is going on. But if he isn’t getting left-handers out now in Mississippi he’s got no future in Major League Baseball.