It was like watching Sasaki Loki (Chiba Lotte Marines). Moon Dong-ju, the “top prospect” of the Hanwha Eagles, once again staged an armed demonstration by spraying the ball up to 157km several times without exerting much effort.
Moon Dong-ju started in the 2023 Shinhan Bank SOL KBO league exhibition game Lotte Giants and away confrontation held at Sajik Stadium in Busan on the 25th and fought back with 63 pitches, 4 hits, 7 strikeouts and 1 run (1 earned) in 4 innings.
Moon Dong-joo is one of the ‘top prospects’ representing the KBO League beyond Hanwha. Moon Dong-ju, who has caught the eyes of scouts by throwing fast balls that cross 150 km since high school, wore a Hanwha uniform through the first nomination for the 2022 rookie draft. Moon Dong-ju, who received a lot of attention even before his debut, had a hard time at the beginning of last year due to the lack of a second pitch to support the fast ball and the lack of a second pitch.
However, Moon Dong-ju began to change in the second half of the season when he went down to the 2nd division and returned. Moon Dong-ju, who had an ERA of 8.56 in 10 appearances in the first half, recorded an ERA of 3.00 with 1 win and 2 losses in 3 games in the second half. And his good momentum from the second half of last year continues in the exhibition game.
Moon Dong-ju took the mound as a starting pitcher in an exhibition game against Kiwoom Heroes on the 18th and recorded 3 hits (1 home run), 2 walks, 4 strikeouts and 1 run (1 earned) in 3 innings. The only regret was not being able to block Lee Jeong-hoo, the ‘best hitter in the KBO League’, but it was clear that he was more stable than last year. The pitching against Lotte was more solid.
Moon Dong-ju recorded three fastballs with a maximum speed of 157 km/h and three 156 km per hour, throwing a mix of curves (14 pitches), changeup (9 pitches), and slider (8 pitches) based on fastball (32 pitches), 4 innings 1 It left a score of failure. Lotte hitters collapsed with the fall of autumn leaves on a fast fastball as well as a large-angled curve.
From the start, Moon Dong-ju showed off a pitch of ‘overwhelming power’. Moon Dong-joo got off to a clean start by striking out lead batter Ahn Kwon-soo in the first inning, then struck out three batters in a row against Kim Min-seok and Jack Rex in a row. In particular, the winning shots thrown against Kim Min-seok and Rex were all 157 km, the highest speed of the day.
However, the second inning was a little disappointing. At the end of the second inning, Moon Dong-ju was attacked by Han Dong-hee and Ahn Chi-hong with 156-155km fastballs, respectively, and was hit in a row and was put in a crisis situation. The courses that gave hits were all high courses in the middle of the strike zone, and they could not overcome batters with good balls and pitches. But there were no mass losses. Moon Dong-joo exchanged 1 run for follow-up hitter Roh Jin-hyeok’s out count, and ended the inning by striking out both Jung-hoon and Yoo Kang-nam.메이저사이트
Solid pitching continued. In the third inning, Moon Dong-joo sent out lead hitter Hwang Seong-bin because he couldn’t get help from the defense, but he overcame the crisis with a checker and ended the inning with a scoreless run. And in the 4th inning, lead hitter Han Dong-hee was allowed another hit, but he completed his mission by tying up the lower batting line leading to An Chi-hong, Noh Jin-hyuk and Jeong-hoon.
What was as impressive as the fast 157km ball that day was the pitching of Musasagu. He was starkly different from last year, when he gave up 14 walks in 28⅔ innings. He made a comeback in just one year. Although it is only an exhibition game, the appearance Dong-ju Moon showed in the two appearances was enough to make us look forward to the future. At the current pace, it is expected that there will be no problem entering the starting rotation.