On July 29, LG made a surprise trade with Kiwoom. LG agreed to a trade of infielder Lee Ju-hyung, pitcher Kim Dong-gyu, and a first-round pick in 소닉카지노the 2024 MLB Draft to acquire Kiwoom’s starting pitcher Choi Won-tae.
LG, looking to win its first Korean Series title in 29 years, was most concerned about the struggles of its homegrown starters in the first half of the season, which it hoped to address by acquiring 10-win pitcher Choi Won-tae.
The trade was a big one. They got a recognized hitting talent (Lee Ju-hyung) who completed his military service early, a promising pitcher (Kim Dong-gyu) who was a second-round pick this year, and a first-round pick. The final piece of the puzzle to win the Korean Series this year, a championship, would offset the three players given up.
Choi Won-tae started against Doosan in Jamsil on July 30, the day after the trade, and pitched six innings of two-hit ball, striking out five and walking none. It was a perfect debut for LG, and LG fans cheered.
However, his subsequent behavior has been somewhat unnerving. In his second start in an LG uniform, he took the loss against Samsung Electronics on May 5, giving up six runs on nine hits in five innings. On the 12th, he pitched five innings and two runs to win against Kiwoom, and on the 18th, he pitched seven innings and four runs against SSG.
On the 25th, against the Changwon NC. Choi Won-tae pitched his worst game since his debut. He gave up 11 runs on 15 hits in 4 innings. It was a new record for most hits in a game and a tie for most runs allowed.
The NC batters came out swinging in the first inning, and Choi’s pitches kept getting hit. In the first inning, he gave up three runs on five hits in the first six batters he faced.
In the third, he gave up four runs on four consecutive hits. In the fourth, he gave up a bases-loaded double with the bases loaded and a career-high four runs. In the first inning, the NC hitters tended to get hit by fastballs, and in the third and fourth innings, they were hit by fastballs and changeups alike.
NC’s Kim Joo-won, who had two doubles and four RBIs, said, “Our batters were lucky. Our batters were lucky to hit well from the first pitch,” but Choi Won-tae’s pitches were poor in both command and delivery.
Since being traded to LG, Won-tae Choi is 2-2 with a 7.00 ERA in five games. He has thrown 27 innings and allowed 23 runs (21 earned).
His ERA in the previous four games was 4.69, which isn’t great either. The LG bats are good, so he only needs to give up three runs in five or six innings, but he’s had his ups and downs as a pitcher who was expected to start three games in the postseason.
Looking at the second half of the season, Choi is 2-2 with a 7.03 ERA in six games. His ERA is the lowest among the 27 pitchers who have pitched at least one inning. This is in contrast to his first half, when he went 6-4 with a 3.05 ERA in 16 games, ranking in the top five in the league among homegrown starters.