Hanwha Eagles fireballer Moon Dong-ju (21) has rescheduled his first start of the season. The pitcher was forced to reschedule due to his participation in the MLB World Tour Seoul Series Special Game.
The KBO announced on Monday that Hanwha’s Moon Dong-ju and Kia’s Yoon Young-cheol, who were scheduled to participate in the 2024 Shinhan SOL Bank KBO Media Day & Fanfest at Lotte Hotel Seoul Sogong on April 22, have been replaced by Noh Si-hwan and Jung Hae-young, respectively, due to the request of their respective teams to reschedule their appearances.
Moon will pitch in the Futures team’s scrimmage against the Samsung Lions at Gyeongsan Ballpark instead of the media day on the 22nd. He will make a final check with the pitch and then enter the regular season starting rotation.
As a result, Moon’s first start of the season will be against the SSG Landers at SSG Landers Field in Incheon on April 28th. Originally, he was scheduled to start against SSG on the 26th as the third starter, but the schedule was changed due to his selection to the Team Korea National Team.
Moon threw 53 pitches in three innings in his first start against the Blue and White in Daejeon on July 7 before being pulled after throwing just 28 pitches in two innings of relief in an exhibition game against KIA in Daejeon on July 12. On a normal pitching schedule, he should have thrown 70 to 80 pitches, but the MLB World Tour special game was a factor.
In his start against the San Diego Padres on Sunday,
Moon allowed one run on four hits with no walks and two strikeouts in two innings. He gave up a run in the first inning on four wild pitches, but got through the second inning without allowing another run. Moon, whose fastball topped out at 96.4 mph (155.1 km/h), threw just 38 pitches as he was scheduled to pitch two innings. In addition to Moon, there were other starting pitchers, including Won Tae-in (Samsung) and Shin Min-hyuk (NC), who could not pitch more than three or four innings on their own.
Hanwha made the final decision to change Moon’s pitching schedule. Prior to the exhibition game against Doosan in Daejeon on the 18th, Choi Won-ho said, “The national team will have its own situation. You can’t have one starter fill in and the other pitch one inning.” Understanding that, Choi said, 바카라사이트 “Dong-ju couldn’t build up as a starter. He’s not an opener, and you can’t go into the season with 50 or 60 pitches. I think we need to have a meeting with the coaching staff,” and hinted at a schedule change.
“If we change the order, he can throw in the Futures team’s practice game this week. After throwing 60 to 70 pitches in the Futures, I can take five days off and throw 70 to 80 pitches when I come in as the fifth starter. There’s a possibility of doing two short pitches as an opener, but I’m thinking of going to the Futures, throwing one and then coming up.”
Starting the season as the fifth starter isn’t a bad thing for Moon.
In fact, the change in starting matchups from a three- to a five-man rotation could actually improve his chances of winning. “Originally, I was going to use Dong-ju as the third starter…” Choi said, “but the fifth starter will be better for Dong-ju to win. His chances of winning will be considerably higher than playing with the third starter.”
Meanwhile, Ryu Hyun-jin and Felix Peña were confirmed as the starting pitchers for the opening two games against the LG Twins at Jamsil Stadium on April 23-24. While Ryu was announced as the opening day starter earlier in the day, Peña took the second spot. Choi chose Peña despite the presence of left-hander Ricardo Sanchez, who went 1-1 with a 1.59 ERA and 15 strikeouts in three games (17 innings) for the LG Electronics last year.
“If you just think about LG, Sanchez is better, but we’re not just playing LG. The pennant race is about the whole season. It’s better to go with our starting priorities. It’s not just LG, there are other games after that.”
Peña gave up two home runs to Yang Ji-hyeon in his last start against Doosan, but he finished with a solid six innings of four hits (two homers), three walks, two strikeouts, and two runs. Totaled 80 pitches, 49 strikes and 31 balls. He threw a mix of changeups (43), sliders (24), and fastballs (13), with a fastball that topped out at 150 mph and averaged 146 mph. Has picked up his velocity for the second straight start, following a strong outing against KIA on April 11 (4 1/3 innings, one run, one hit, two walks, three strikeouts).
