Ahn Woo-jin, an integral part of the Kiwoom Heroes’ offence, has been removed from the line-up.

Kiwoom made changes to its first-team roster ahead of its home game against the Lotte Giants in the 2023 Shinhan Bank SOL KBO League at Gocheok Sky Dome in Seoul on 9 September. Outfielder Lim Byung-wook was called up, while pitcher Ahn Woo-jin and outfielder Park Chan-hyuk were promoted to the second team.

The most notable name is Ahn Woo-jin. The previous day against Lotte, he pitched 5⅔ innings of four-hit ball, striking out six and allowing one run (unearned)카지노사이트 in a no-decision. It’s been about a month since Ahn failed to complete six innings against the Gwangju Kia Tigers on 28 June (5⅓ innings).

On the surface, there was nothing out of the ordinary, but the bench had other ideas. “He made some uncomfortable movements as his pitch count increased in the early innings, and I felt it was strange to see him throwing a ball that I hadn’t seen before,” said Kiwoom coach Hong Won-ki ahead of the game.

“After giving up a hit to Kim Min-seok in the second inning of the sixth, I was thinking about whether to change him, but I thought that if I dragged him further, I would have a big problem, so I made a difficult decision,” he said, adding, “I checked his physical condition and it was not good.

Although there was no specific problem in any part of her body, she was expunged for her own protection.

Last year was the first time Ahn had been in the starting line-up on a full-time basis after making his first-team debut in 2018. In 30 games and 196 innings, Ahn went 15-8 with a 2.11 ERA, most notably striking out 224 batters, breaking the single-season record for most strikeouts by a Korean pitcher in history.

Ahn has also been pitching a lot of innings this season, going 7-7 with a 2.37 ERA in 21 games and 132⅔ innings pitched. In particular, she has tried to fulfil her responsibilities as an ‘ace’ by pitching more than five innings in every game.

To put it another way, Ahn has been under a lot of pressure. Since the start of the season, he has thrown 2088 pitches through eight games, the most of any pitcher in the league. There are bound to be concerns about overload.

Kiwoom is currently on a nine-game losing streak, which would be the longest losing streak since the club’s inception. The team’s chances of reaching the postseason, let alone autumn baseball, are slim. But in the long run, Kiwoom can’t afford to sit on their ace, who hasn’t been his usual self. Kiwoom can only hope that Ace will return to the first team healthy.

Meanwhile, in addition to Ahn Woo-jin and Park Chan-hyuk, Samsung Lions’ Choi Chae-heung, NC Dinos’ Noh Si-hoon, and LG Twins’ Son Ho-young were dropped to the second team. Along with Lim Byung-wook, Samsung’s Kim Seo-joon, NC’s Choi Sung-young, and LG’s Kim Min-sung are on the first team roster.