“In 2026, (Ahn) Woo-jin and (Kim) Jae-woong will return.”
The Kiwoom Heroes openly say that they are rebuilding for 2026. OK. Not all teams need to have a win-now direction. Kiwoom also tried to win the Korean Series in 2023 but failed due to a series of injuries, reducing its own competitiveness and shifting to rebuilding. The team that declared rebuilding just needs to accept the fans’ criticism over poor performance and the franchise star’s trade.
Instead, he is obliged to present his fans with a clear blueprint for a bright future. So far, this part is not clear. General manager Ko Hyung-wook said, “The mound is going according to my plan.” He said, “I am confident that the top designated pitchers in the rookie draft will grow steadily over the past two to three years.
Rather, he viewed the problem as a batter’s box with less slugging power. This is accurate perception of reality. After setting up two foreign hitters (Jaciel Puig and Ruben Cardinez), he chose to increase the competitiveness of Korean hitters by having a better experience.
However, the mound is not free from concerns. Two foreign hitters means one foreign pitcher. And this has strong implications for young pitchers to grow into starting pitchers. General manager Ko Hyung-wook said, “In some aspects, we chose the two foreign hitters to motivate younger pitchers who have been selected intensively.” 온라인바카라
If so, there is an absolute task to do before ace Ahn Woo-jin returns in 2026. It is to foster native starting pitchers. It is not just to foster native starting pitchers, but to foster strong and stable starting pitchers comparable to Ahn Woo-jin. It is never easy. It is not normal to make one starter. Still, if Kiwoom took this path, it should do so.
Kiwoom already had as many as 12 pitchers as starters last year. Enmanuel De Heysus and Ariel Furado had 30 games, Ha Young-min 28 games, Kim In-beom 14 games, Kim Yoon-ha 12 games, Jongmin Lee 9 games, Kim Sun-ki 6 games, Jeon Joon-pyo 5 games, Jeong Chan-heon 4 games, Cho Young-gun 3 games, Son Hyun-ki 2 games and Yoon Seok-won 1.
From a cool-headed perspective, only Ha Young-min with nine wins, eight losses and an ERA of 4.37 from 28 games has been discovered. Even those Ha Young-mins need to work hard for one or two more years to establish themselves. Kim In-beom and Kim Yun-ha constantly received opportunities by throwing their pitches to some extent, but their performances were disastrous. Still, they must follow this process. Kiwoom will naturally give more Korean pitchers a chance to start next year. Based on simple calculations, Korean pitchers should be responsible for 30 more games, or one foreign pitcher’s share, this year.
Next year, Chung should achieve more tangible results than this year. Expectations are high for Chung, who is already said to be on the level of Ryu Hyun-jin. However, Chung is no more than a rookie pitcher who has yet to be unveiled. It is true that Chung will grow into a left-handed ace as expected, but he needs time. He needs to take it as a bonus next year and relax him with a long breath.
Even if Jung Hyun-woo wins a stable place next year like a miracle, it will be a tremendous achievement if he performs more than Ha Young-min this year. Even so, Kiwoom’s nurturing of native starters never ends with that. Even if Ahn Woo-jin returns, he has to make at least two or three more native starters.
The club and its manager Hong Won-ki are ready to give a chance. In the end, it is up to Kiwoom pitchers to create the opportunity.
