Choo Shin-soo (42, SSG), who is currently playing his last active role in the KBO league after playing in the Major League for 16 years, was surprised and amazed by a player’s fastball pitching. Choi Joon-yong (23), who had been expected to be the core of Lotte’s bullpen, was the holder of the fastball pitching that surprised Choo.
Choi Jun-yong is not a fastball player who throws fastballs in the mid-150km/h range. His fastball speed is mid to late 140km/h. However, he is praised for his strength at the end of the ball. As he has such good vertical movements, batters feel that the ball comes alive until the end. This is exactly what surprised Choo. He is also one of the players who is always mentioned first when selecting a player with the best fastball pitching capability compared to his speed in the KBO league. Lotte manager Kim Tae-hyung, who took office this year, also defines Choi’s greatest strength from the outside as “the end of the ball.”
However, Choi’s fastball has rarely lived and moved since 2021. Choi, who also competed for the team’s finishing touch with Kim Won-joong in 2022 with this unique advantage, had a hard time maintaining his performance. Choi, who had a 2.85 ERA in 44 games in 2021, suffered a relative slump with a 4.06 ERA in 68 games in 2022, and seemed to be recovering with a 2.45 ERA in 47 games last year, but this year he was sluggish again, making it difficult for his team to manage the bullpen.
Lotte manager Kim Tae-hyung selects the players who were expected to be on the stand-by due to the difficulties of the team’s mound in the early days of the season. The players Kim has designated are those who have experience like Choi Joon-yong, Koo Seung-min and Na Kyun-an, but are below the average of this year’s players. In fact, he was so good that he firmly had a place in Kim’s plan until the beginning of the season. He also showed off his impressive pitching in practice games with major leaguers who visited Korea for the Seoul Series before the season, raising expectations for the season.
Choi, however, recorded one win, two losses and three holds with an ERA of 5.40 in 27 games this season before being removed from the roster on June 3. At the time, manager Kim said there was no promise on when Choi will return to the mound. Choi was suspected of injury as he did not play in the second division afterwards. As widely rumored, he turned out to have a bad shoulder, and he will eventually undergo surgery. The season ended in vain.
Lotte announced on the 4th that Choi Jun-yong will undergo shoulder joint surgery. The surgery will be conducted by Lee Je-hyung at Cheongdam Leon Orthopedic Surgery in Seoul on the 6th.
“Choi Jun-yong underwent injections and physical therapy due to constant shoulder pain for many years after joining the team, but it did not have much effect,” Lotte said. “The player himself was under a lot of stress from the pain,” adding, “He can participate in the game through rehabilitation such as injection and physical therapy, but we decided that he needs surgical treatment for the player’s future in the long run. The rehabilitation period is expected to take about four months.”
“I don’t talk about this or that. Players can do what they want,” coach Kim Tae-hyung said ahead of the match against the Ulsan LG Twins on Wednesday. “I don’t think I should tell them what to do,” he said. “I think I talked a lot with the training part because I’m not sure about myself. Eventually, I got surgery.” Choi, who suffered from constant shoulder pain for a long time, ended up making the final decision. 토토사이트
Given that it is a shoulder surgery that is sensitive to pitchers, the rehabilitation process is expected to be important in the future. There are many cases where the life of a pitcher ends after putting a sword on his shoulder. Even in the course of rehabilitation, good times and bad times constantly intersect. It is a battle and perseverance. As the rehabilitation process alone takes four months, he cannot play this year. Given that the rehabilitation period is likely to be prolonged in terms of shoulders, and it will take some time to recover his physical condition, it remains to be seen whether the best scenario of joining the team at the opening next year will be achieved.
Lotte’s bullpen is expected to be more difficult as Choi Jun-yong, who had been expected to be the set-up man in the eighth inning of the team, is out for the season. This is because the road to closing Kim Won-joong is rough. Koo Seung-min’s performance is improving, and Kim Sang-soo returned from rest, but he is not a team with many definite constants yet. As Choi Joon-yong, who has yet to solve the military problem, undergoes shoulder surgery, there may be situations in which he needs to revise his long-term team plan in the future. With such and such a disappointment and a waste of time passing, we have to pray for a healthy return for now.