It was believed that he would be a left-handed starter representing the “Ryu Jung-il Ho” team. But the reality is not so easy.
The timing of the NC Dinos’ Koo Chang-mo’s return is unclear. He is currently unable to catch a ball.
When asked about the status of the “homegrown ace,” NC head coach Kang In-hwa said, “He’s not doing any technical training right now.
Koo is still in the rehabilitation phase. According to the NC team, he underwent a medical examination on the 21st of last month and is scheduled to undergo another examination in three to four weeks.
There is no timetable yet. However, Coach Kang said, “He may have another checkup in mid-August and another one a week later. We’ll have to see the results and then schedule training.”
For Gu Changmo, who missed the Tokyo Olympics due to injury, the Hangzhou Asian Games are a major opportunity for him to earn a taiwanese flag, not to mention his team’s fall baseball competition. But nagging injuries have plagued him. A healthy Changmo is such a dominant starter that he’s been called unhittable, but the problem is that he’s often sick.
Koo was drafted by the NC in the second round (3rd overall) in 2015. He’s 46-34 with a 3.74 ERA in the KBO, which isn’t exactly impressive for a guy who’s been labeled the “national left-handed ace to succeed Ryu Kim-yang”.
But the impact is huge. In 2017, his third season, his “Dr. K” instincts kicked in. He struck out 118 batters in 115 innings for a whopping 9.24 strikeouts per nine innings. This was his first full-time role, and it showed.
In 2019, he got off to a slow start due to injury, but still managed to win his first 10 games and become the first lefty in franchise history to win 10 games. In 2021, he was one of the best pitchers in the KBO, including foreign pitchers, in the first half of the season, but an injury in late July put him out for the season. He returned in late October and pitched two games in the Korean Series to help the team win the title, but the following year, he was shut down without playing a single game.메이저놀이터
Last year, when he returned, he went 11-5 with a 2.10 ERA, again showing flashes of the homegrown ace when healthy, but he only pitched 111⅔ innings in 19 games.
He is 1-3 with a 3.26 ERA this year and has been on the disabled list since early June due to a left arm flexor strain. He traveled to Iijima Osteopathic Center in Japan for treatment, but there was still no noticeable improvement.
If he can only consider a technical training schedule after his mid-August checkup, his return to the field will not be until September at the earliest.