13.2 billion left-handers finally took their first appearance of the season… 1 scoreless inning against the friendly team, successful return game in 363 days

Koo Chang-mo (27) from the NC Dinos returned to the ground in 363 days. He met his former team in the uniform of the Sangmu baseball team and faced five batters, enhancing his sense of play in real games. 토토사이트

Koo took the mound as relief pitcher in the ninth inning against NC in the 2024 Mediheal KBO Futures League held at Masan Baseball Stadium in South Gyeongsang Province on Monday, and allowed one walk and one strikeout in one inning. Sangmu defeated NC 14-3.

Koo Chang-mo returned to the mound after a year of absence. Koo had no run in two ⅓ against the KIA Tigers on Sept. 27 last year while wearing the NC Dinos uniform, and did not play in actual games for 363 days. At the time, Koo left the mound complaining of arm pain, and ended the season early as he was diagnosed with a fractured ulnar in his left arm.

Koo Chang-mo, who joined the training center on December 18 last year, has never played a game, raising questions. As the Futures League is set to play its last game on October 5, it could have been a big blow this season.

Fortunately, he returned to the mound at the end of this season. Koo took the mound as the third pitcher in the bottom of the ninth inning when Sangmu was leading 14-3. He got off to a good start by striking out Kim Bum-joon, the first batter, with six pitches. The next batter, Kim Soo-yoon, induced a ground ball to the shortstop by banking on three pitches, quickly securing two outs.

Koo was shaky after two outs. He allowed a walk to Choi Bo-seong and Kim Jeong-ho to be grounded out, but allowed him to get on base due to his throwing error. Still, he stabilized at the last minute. With two outs and four balls on the first and second bases, he grounded out Kim to shortstop to end the game.

While recording 22 pitches in the game against NC Dinosaurs, Koo put 13 pitches in the zone. He induced five swings and misses, and no hit was made to the outfield. It was the moment when he proved once again that healthy Koo was invincible.

Koo Chang-mo, who joined NC as the third overall pick in the second round of the 2015 KBO League Rookie Draft, has emerged as a left-hander who will lead the future of Korean baseball by distinguishing himself in the first division since his second year. Koo has made significant achievements by achieving more than 10 wins in 2019 (10 wins) and 2022 (11 wins). In particular, he has established himself as the league’s top pitcher with 31-15 losses and an ERA of 2.45 in 68 games during four seasons from 2019 to 2023.

However, his injury has always been a problem. Koo Chang-mo spent four months in the second half of 2020 due to inflammation of the forearm of his left arm and fatigue fracture. In 2021, he had a full year off due to recurrence of fatigue fracture, and underwent a left ulnar fatigue fracture plate fixation in July of that year. In 2023, he suffered two left arm fractures, one against the LG Twins on June 2 and the other against KIA on September 27, which prevented him from playing a normal season. Meanwhile, as his participation in the 2022 Hangzhou Asian Games failed, he eventually chose to join the military athletic team.

The ninth-ranked team is set to post its worst performance in six years since 2018 (10th) this season. Excluding Shin Min-hyuk (7 wins, 9 losses, 4.34 ERA), the team has virtually wiped out native starters, realizing Koo’s absence. Koo Chang-mo, who renewed his contract with NC for a total of 13.2 billion won (10.2 billion U.S. dollars) in December 2022, will be discharged from the military in June 2025. NC expects Koo to come back healthy and help the team rebound in the second half of next season.

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