Yoon Young-cheol (19) of the KIA Tigers, a ‘high school rookie’, won the 7th victory in the Gwangju home game on the 4th as a starter. He threw 안전놀이터 91 pitches through the sixth inning, giving up nine hits and two walks, while striking out six. In the 16th game of his professional debut season, he made his 6th quality start (6+ innings pitched and 3 earned runs or less).
He broke through the crisis with two strikeouts, even after getting two hits and allowing one walk in the top of the first inning.
He struck out the opponent’s 4th batter from 1st out, 1st and 3rd bases. At full count, he struck out with a swing at 131 km/h with a slider flowing to the lower side.
The following two companies loaded the bases. The opponent struck out 6 times and ended the inning. He caught a strike with a fastball at 138 km/h. After throwing four changeups in a row, he struck out with a fastball at 139 km/h on a full count. I put it in the middle of the strike zone boldly. It showed the power of jegu. Yoon Young-cheol allowed 3 runs with 2 homers on the day.
The opposing team that day was Moon Dong-joo’s Hanwha Eagles.
The ‘future’ of Korean baseball, Dong-ju Moon, the rookie of the year, is going to the Yanggang Guo. ‘Lefty’ Yoon Young-cheol, who graduated from Chungam High School this year, caught up with him.
Yoon Young-cheol won 4 out of 4 matches from the SSG Landers match on July 5th to the Hanwha match on the 4th. Against the Samsung Lions on July 12, he took the mound in the fifth inning following starter Thomas Panoni, blocked 1⅔ innings with one hit and no runs, and became the winning pitcher. The remaining three games as a starter all finished with quality starts. 4 games, 19⅔ innings, 5 runs, average ERA of 2.29.
Yoon Young-cheol is a promising player named by KIA in the first round of the 2023 rookie draft. He entered the pro as the second overall pick behind Hanwha Kim Seo-hyun.
Moon Dong-ju became the first Korean to break the 160km/h barrier at the KIA match in Gwangju on April 12th. In the bottom of the first inning, the fastball he threw against Park Chan-ho recorded a speed of 160.1 km/h, the highest ever.
Due to two injuries last year, he only pitched 28⅔innings. He started the season while maintaining his Rookie of the Year qualification (within 5 years of joining, pitching less than 30 innings) and left a strong impact. He excited Korean baseball with a light-speed ball that reached 160 km/h.
Moon Dong-joo, in his second year as a pro, consistently served as a starting pitcher. Since June, he has gone 4 wins (3 losses) in 10 games, with an earned run average of 2.62.
On June 24, against the NC Dinos, he pitched 8 innings with 2 hits and no runs. On July 12, against the LG Twins, he finished the first half with a good pitching of 7⅓ innings and 1 run. In the second half of the second game, he played 2 consecutive games with 5 innings and 2 runs, but he scored 1 loss.
Moon Dong-ju, who has played in 18 games, is recording 6 wins and 7 losses with an ERA of 3.48. In 93 innings he pitched, he struck out 82, marked a WHIP (on-base percentage per inning) of 1.25, and a batting average of 0.241.
Moon Dong-ju is still ahead of Yoon Young-chul in terms of records. By the way, Yoon Young-chul won the victory with Hanhwa on the 4th, surpassing Moon Dong-ju with 7 wins. His recent performance is better than Moon Dong-ju. He’s definitely on the rise.
Yoon Young-cheol recorded 6 wins and 7 losses in 16 games until the 4th, an average ERA of 3.81, 80⅓ innings, 49 strikeouts, a WHIP of 1.32, and a batting average of 0.253.
Both players recorded six quality starts each.
There are variables. Moon Dong-ju set a limit on the number of pitches in his team to 115 to 120 innings. for shoulder protection. He pitches the remaining innings by the end of August and prepares for the Asian Games in Hangzhou. After participating in the Asian Games in Hangzhou, which opens at the end of September, it is unclear whether he will play for his team.
Moon Dong-joo’s remaining appearances are expected to determine the rookie king’s game. If Moon Dong-ju only wins in single digits, and Yoon Young-cheol wins more than 10 wins in his debut season, he has a high chance of winning.