Two hard-hitting rookies who are being touted as the future duo of the Hanwha Eagles had starkly different pitches. They threw the same fastball but had different stories.
Second-year “Fireballer” Moon Dong-ju failed to reach four wins for the season. However, it was a positive outcome.
Hanwha suffered a heartbreaking 3-6 loss in the eighth game of the 2023 Shinhan Bank SOL KBO League against the Doosan Bears at Jamsil Stadium on Sunday. It was the second straight loss on the road in Jamsil.
Starting pitcher Moon Dong-ju tossed six shutout innings, striking out seven, walking five and giving up one unearned run (unearned) on a fastball that reached 160 kilometers per hour.
Doosan was stymied against Moon. They didn’t score a run until the fourth inning. With two outs in the top of the fifth, Lee Yoo-chan singled and Jeong Soo-bin reached on a throwing error by the left fielder, making it 1-2, but they couldn’t tie the game.
Moon, who is 3-0 with a 4.00 ERA in his last nine starts, pitched well today. Moon, who won his first start in June against the Kiwoom Heroes on June 1 with seven innings of two-hit, four-strikeout, one-walk ball, also pitched well against Jamsil.
Manager Choi Won-ho once said, “If Moon Dong-ju has good control of his pitches, he will be the best pitcher in Korean baseball in three to four years.” The 7th was the day Choi was expecting.
Although the bullpen collapsed and Moon lost the game, he pitched as well as he did against Kiwoom. With his ‘strong fastball’, Moon is well on his way to finding his own path.
On the other hand, Hanwha’s other ‘fastball’ pitcher, rookie Kim Seo-hyun, still hasn’t solved the problem of velocity anxiety. Kim Seo-hyun, 스포츠토토 who took the mound as the second pitcher in the seventh inning after Moon Dong-joo, also boasts a fastball that can easily reach 155 kilometers. But against Doosan, it wasn’t his fastball that was the problem.
Kim got the first batter, Rojas, to fly out to left field. One out later, the pitch suddenly broke down. He walked Park Kye-beom on a fastball and gave up a straight fly ball to Lee Yoo-chan.
The pitch didn’t work at all. The Hanha bench was immediately replaced by relievers Kim Bum-soo and Kang Jae-min, who were also shaky and allowed the tying run to score. Both had pitching problems.
Moon Dong-joo’s pitching could be a good reference for the rookie Kim Seo-hyun, who was unable to protect the team’s lead. If Kim Seo-hyun can’t improve his control, his future is uncertain.