Hanwha Eagles’ Moon Dong-ju is returning to his good form last year. Yang Sang-moon, the pitching coach, diagnosed Moon Dong-ju’s recovery.
Moon Dong-ju started against the Lotte Giants at Sajik Stadium in Busan on the 27th and recorded seven hits and five strikeouts in six innings.
He silenced Lotte’s batters with a variety of pitches, including fastballs (44), sliders (18), curves (15), and folk balls (14) with a maximum speed of 159 kilometers.
He also showed off his crisis management skills. In fact, although there were many crises, he blocked Moon without losing a point each time.
After one out in the bottom of the first inning, he allowed consecutive hits to Ko Seung-min and Son Ho-young, putting them on the verge of first and second bases, but he quickly cut the flow by treating the next Reyes as a double play.
In the bottom of the second inning, he allowed leadoff hitter Jeon Joon-woo to hit to the middle of the second inning, and after one out, Yoon Dong-hee hit to the left-center, putting him on the verge of first and second bases. However, Moon ended the inning by catching Noh Jin-hyuk and Son Sung-bin, respectively, swinging and hitting a fly ball to the first base.
The biggest crisis was in the third inning. He allowed leadoff hitter Hwang Sung-bin to have an infield hit. He threw a wild pitch at the next batter’s box, allowing Hwang to take third base. With no outs and no outs on the third base, Moon Dong-ju caught Ko with a straight hit to the third base and even threw out Hwang Sung-bin, who was running towards the home, to grab two outs. Although he allowed a hit to Son Ho-young, he treated Reyes to a fly ball and put out the fire.
Since then, he has been on the rise. Moon made his first three-out inning in the fifth inning, and pitched the ball without much risk until the sixth inning.
Even with more than 80 pitches, Moon did not lose his power. The speed of 160 kilometers per hour was recorded on the electronic display at Sajik Stadium. It was not just once. Moon, who threw all-out pitching against Reyes and Jeon Jun-woo, accomplished his duty by striking out consecutively. It is a quality start for two consecutive games.
Moon handed over the ball to Park Sang-kwon in the bottom of the seventh inning. However, he failed to become a winning pitcher. The bullpen lost the game by dedicating its victory to Park in the eighth inning.
As Moon Dong-joo, he failed to win despite playing well for two consecutive games.
Still, it is good to see Moon come back to his old self. Having struggled in 13 games in the first half with three wins and six losses and an earned run average of 6.92, Moon has good performance in seven games in the second half with three wins and one loss and an earned run average of 2.77. Notably, he ranks fourth in earned run average among 27 pitchers in the second half of the season, the first among pitchers in Korea. 안전놀이터
Coach Kim Kyung-moon also applauded Moon for his quality pitching. “He threw well. Even though he lost from behind, I think he needs to give a lot of compliments,” Kim said with a big smile. “It’s not that he throws well once. It’s good to see him because he’s constantly throwing well.”
Then, what was the factor that allowed Moon Dong-ju to continue his good pitching in the second half of the year.
“I think he had confidence when he threw the ball, whether it was advice from a pitching coach or something. I also think it was effective to use aggressive pitching patterns,” Kim said.
According to manager Kim Kyung-moon, Moon gritted his teeth ahead of the upcoming game. He threw the ball at the Kaesong High School field on Monday (Sept. 26). He was with Yang Sang-moon.
What part did Yang give him? “He throws aggressively. Isn’t that a hard ball to hit?” But Dong-ju said, “I’m going to go with this ball because the opponent is aiming at me. That’s what I didn’t like.”
Coach Yang Sang-moon ordered him to throw the ball that his opponent is aiming for. He thought Moon Dong-ju’s ball would not be easy to hit because it is powerful.
Yang said, “Dongjoo tried to be more perfect. So I said, ‘Dongjoo, just throw me the ball you’re aiming for. I can’t hit you’. How can you hit the ball over 150km? Of course, I can hit you, but it’s more effective in the end,” and he admitted it himself. “That’s how I got better.”
He also praised Yang for not allowing a run after seven hits. “You can’t help but get hit. How you catch the next one is important. If you don’t try to get hit, it gets harder. It gets more complicated. You only have to catch the next batter, so if you don’t get hit consecutive times, you don’t get any points. Good job.”
Moon wanted to play in the seventh inning, but the coaching staff stopped him. “It’s better to cut him some slack when he likes him. This was a perfect pitching,” Yang said with a smile.