ethernetacademy.netMyDaily = Gocheok Park Seung-hwan Reporter] Kiwoom Heroes ‘ace’ Ahn Woo-jin has been removed from the first team. Although he doesn’t have a specific injury, it was determined that he could have suffered a major injury due to his uncharacteristic movements.
Kiwoom made the changes to its roster ahead of the team’s 10th home game of the 2023 Shinhan Bank SOL KBO League against the Lotte Giants at Gocheok Sky Dome in Seoul on April 9. Ahn Woo-jin and Park Chan-hyuk were recalled, while Lim Byung-wook received a call-up to the first team.
The most notable change is Ahn Woo-jin. Ahn pitched 5⅔ innings against Lotte on Aug. 8, throwing 104 pitches and allowing one run (unearned) on four hits and four walks, but was unable to capitalize on the win due to lack of support from his bats. The day before (Aug. 8), Ahn’s pitching wasn’t bad, but it wasn’t his usual stuff. He had a lot of walks and struggled with his control, throwing a whopping 104 pitches in 5⅔ innings.
Before the game on the 9th, manager Hong Won-ki was asked about Ahn’s performance the day before and said, “Ahn is struggling and pitching backwards right now. However, there is a concern because he had a lot of strikeouts from the beginning of the game yesterday and he was struggling unusually. I thought about it until Sunday (13th) and tried to adjust my pitch count, but it didn’t go according to plan.” “It seems like a difficult situation for me and the team is repeating,” he said.
Ahn threw a ton of innings last year. She pitched 196 innings in the regular season alone, and threw an additional 26⅔ innings in five postseason games. After transitioning to a full-time starter in the 2021 season, Ahn threw just 107⅔ innings that year, but last year he threw over 100 more innings. That’s no small feat considering it was his first full-time start since his debut.
After a long meeting with the coaching staff, the manager decided to remove Ahn from the first team for now. “We need to think about it in order to finish the season, and I think there will be changes,” said Hong Won-ki, who cautiously opened with, “It’s something we decided through a late meeting, but I think it will help us finish the season if we leave her out (of the first team) once.”
“I don’t think there’s anything wrong (with my body), but early yesterday, as the number of pitches increased, I saw uncomfortable movements and balls flying that I hadn’t seen before, and I felt strange,” he said. “I was very worried about the sixth inning because I was originally planning to pitch after four days of rest, but I thought there would be a big problem if I dragged it out any longer, so I made a difficult decision.”
He’s not injured, but he’s not feeling well. “When I checked his physical condition today (Sept. 9), he didn’t look very good, so even though we were in a hurry, we decided it was better to take a turn off to protect him,” Hong added.
Along with Ahn Woo-jin’s departure from the first team, Kim Hye-seong will also not be playing defense for Kiwoom. She was hit in the knee by a foul ball the day before. A CT scan revealed no problems, but she will play as a designated hitter to protect her player. Manager Hong Won-ki said, “It doesn’t look like a normal bruise. He doesn’t usually express his intention to be substituted during the game.” “I thought it would be difficult today, but he expressed his intention to play. It’s a position with a lot of left and right movement, so I’ll be playing as a designated hitter today.”먹튀검증
Meanwhile, Kiwoom’s starting lineup for the day was Lee Yong-kyu (right fielder), Kim Hye-sung (designated hitter), Ronny Dawson (left fielder), Kim Hui-jip (shortstop), Song Sung-moon (third baseman), Lee Joo-hyung (center fielder), Kim Tae-jin (second baseman), Kim Su-hwan (first baseman), and Kim Dong-heon (catcher).