I had a good return game, but I am not relieved. He keeps trying to vent.
LG Twins right-handed starting pitcher Choi Won-tae started the home game against the Hanwha Eagles in the 2023 Shinhan Bank SOL KBO League held at Jamsil Baseball Stadium in Seoul on the 24th. He pitched well in 7 innings, allowing 6 hits (1 home run), 1 walk, 8 strikeouts, and 1 run. He achieved his 9th win of the season (6 losses) and 13th quality start (6 or more innings as a starter and 3 or fewer earned runs). Leading the way to a 5-1 victory and 2 consecutive wins. LG succeeded in reducing the magic number of regular season wins to 10.
Choi Won-tae, who was a member of Kiwoom, wore an LG uniform through a trade on July 29 (Choi Won-tae, infielder Lee Joo-hyung, pitcher Kim Dong-gyu, 2024 rookie draft 1st round pick). On July 30th, the first game after the transfer, he pitched 6 scoreless innings against Doosan. However, he performed poorly with 1 win, 2 losses, and an ERA of 9.00 in 21 innings in 4 games in August, and an ERA of 14.29 in 5⅔ innings in 2 games in September. He was excluded from the first team on the 11th. I got another opportunity two weeks after the KIA game on the 10th.
LG coach Yeom Kyung-yeop expressed his true feelings before the game, saying, “Choi Won-tae needs to come back to life. I hope he throws well.” Coach Yeom pointed out, “The proportion of (Choi) Won-tae’s fastballs has fallen too much. To utilize his main weapon, the changeup, he needs to throw more fastballs. That’s how it will be effective.”
Choi Won-tae successfully passed his first test after returning. The total number of pitches on this day was 92. He threw a mix of four-seam fastballs (33), sliders (25), change-ups (15), curves (10), and two-seam fastballs (9). The highest four-seamer speed was 148 km/h, and the two-seamer was 144 km/h. Except for a solo home run by throwing a slider to Lee Jin-young in the 5th inning, he finished pitching without giving up any runs. The season ERA was lowered from 4.47 to 4.31.
After the game, Choi Won-tae had a puzzled expression. He said, “Honestly, I don’t know yet. It didn’t feel like it did when my performance was good,” and “I’m glad the results turned out well. I think I’ll get better if I keep practicing hard in the future.”
What kind of time did you spend so far? Choi Won-tae said, “In the second team, pitching coaches Kyung Heon-ho and Shin Jae-woong helped me a lot. Thanks to them, I was able to do well. Coach Kyung Heon-ho said, ‘It would be good if I threw more pitchers.'” He said, “Coach Shin Jae-woong showed me when I was doing well and told me to lower my arm slightly (when pitching) to give movement to the pitch seamer.” He added, “I raised my arm a lot recently, but it’s back to the way it was before, when it was good.” “He explained.
He then laughed, saying, “Chief training coach Kim Yong-il gave me mental support. What he said is a trade secret.”
I wasn’t too nervous ahead of my appearance against Hanwha레고토토. Choi Won-tae looked back and said, “The team was doing well without me. So (I felt) at ease,” and “I thought I would do whatever I wanted on the mound. It seems to have worked out well.”
On this day, he also spoke about pitching. Choi Won-tae said, “The manager told me to throw more change-ups, and I thought so too. However, my change-ups kept falling out in the beginning, so I blocked (the inning) with other pitches and tried to get a feel for the change-ups when I had time.” He added, “I use a lot of sliders and curves.” The inning passed.
He continued, “I threw a two-seamer in the beginning and switched to a four-seamer in the second half. I used it a lot. The curveball was also good. I think I should use it well.” He added, “When I’m good, I often strike out with my curveball. It’s not my second pitch, so I don’t use it much, but I think I’m good at striking out. I think I have a good combination of my curveball and my changeup.”
In fact, Choi Won-tae used a curve as the deciding ball when he struck out Lee Jin-young, Chae Eun-seong, and Nick Williams in the first inning. The curve was also effective when Chae Eun-seong was treated as a catcher’s strike and not out (catcher’s tag out) in the third inning. It was the same when he overpowered Park Jung-hyun in the 6th inning with a catcher’s strike and a no-out (touchout to first base). He is searching for his own answer.
