Choi Won-tae (LG Twins) is slowly regaining his ace form.
Choi Won-tae took the mound as LG’s starting pitcher in a home game against the SSG Landers of the 2024 KBO League regular season at Jamsil Baseball Stadium in Seoul on the 22nd.
It started off well. Choo, the first batter, had a hit to right-center field in the top of the first inning, but induced Kim Sung-hyun to play a double play to shortstop, and even Choi Jeong tied it to center field fly to end the inning with three batters. In the top of the second inning, he successively caught Guillermo Herredia (ground ball to the first baseman), Oh Tae-gon (three strikeouts), and Park Sung-han (center field fly), completing the first three-out inning on the day.
The first run came in the top of the third inning. It was because of bad luck with errors. Lee Ji-young was grounded out to shortstop, but Ha Jae-hoon’s hit to midfielder and steal second base faced off with one out and two outs. Choi Won-tae then induced Choi Sang-min to ground out to second base, but he had to watch Ha Jae-hoon hit home due to the second baseman’s catch error.
The crisis continued. Choo’s hit to the left-center field drove him to the first and third bases with one out, and gave up a sacrifice fly for second baseman Kim Sung-hyun. Then, the second baseman’s catch error occurred, and the first runner Choo Shin-soo settled on the second base. Choi Jeong hit an infield single to the shortstop with two outs and a runner on the second base, and Choo Shin-soo also homered due to a shortstop’s throwing error. Choi Won-tae then dedicated a hit to the right-handed side to Herredia, but he did not falter anymore, leading Oh to a groundout to the shortstop.
The first half of the fourth inning was neat again. Park allowed a walk, but Lee Ji-young was doubled as a third baseman, and Ha Jae-hoon, a follow-up hitter, used a fly to right field. He calmly increased the out count against Choi Sang-min (catcher foul fly), Choo Shin-soo (not out), and Kim Sung-hyun (three strikeouts).
In the top of the sixth inning, Choi took the mound and blocked Choi with a fly to the left field. He allowed a hit to the right, but ended his duty by striking out Oh Tae-gon and Park Sung-han, respectively, and combining them with a fly to the third baseman. 스포츠토토
The final result was six hits, one out, four strikeouts, three runs and one earned run in six innings. With a total of 93 pitches thrown, the maximum speed of fastball was measured up to 147 kilometers. Choi, who handed the ball to his successor Lim Joon-hyung at a time when his team was leading 11-3 overall, also had the pleasure of securing eight wins (five losses) in this season as LG did not allow the team to tie the game and ultimately secured a landslide 13-3 win. In addition, LG, which restored the pain of its 1-5 defeat the previous day, secured the third place with 62 wins, two draws and 53 losses. It is a one-game gap with the second-ranked Samsung Lions (64 wins, two draws and 53 losses).
Choi Won-tae, who has been wearing LG’s pin stripe uniform since the 2023 season after receiving the Heroes’ nomination as the first nomination in 2015, is a veteran pitcher who had 69 wins, 51 losses and an ERA of 4.38 in 193 games (1,007.2 innings) until last year.
However, the team did not perform well last year. In the middle of the season, Lee joined LG on condition that utility resources Lee Ju-hyung, right-hander Kim Dong-gyu, and first-round draft picks for 2024 Rookie of the Year will be handed over to Kiwoom, but they did not show any signs of improvement. At the end of the second half of the year, they moved to the Futures League and had time to readjust.
Choi also lost face in the Korean Series, the most important stage of the year. He started the game in the second game, but lost his head by allowing two hits and four runs with two outs in 0.1 innings. In the fourth game, he pitched as a bullpen pitcher and pitched one inning, but remained sluggish by allowing one run with two outs. Fortunately, his team LG won the title overall for the third time in 29 years since 1994, 1994 and 2023, but Choi couldn’t smile much.
Fortunately, he showed good performance in the early days of this season. In 12 games (66.1 innings) in the first half, he won six games and lost three games with an ERA of 3.80 and effectively became LG’s first starter during the period.
In early June, however, Choi encountered an unfavorable factor: a right dorsal muscle injury. Afterwards, he returned after about a month of rehabilitation, but struggled in July. He played in three games, but lost two and posted a 14.04 ERA.
Fortunately, Choi started to rebound. He pitched five or more innings in all four games he played in August, including the day, and continued his quality start streak (more than six innings as a starter and less than three earned runs). He is gradually recovering his form as an ace.