Deoksu High School left-hander Jung Hyun-woo (18) led the Golden Lion with a pitch worthy of his reputation as the left-hander Choi Dae-eo.
Jung Hyun-woo became a winning pitcher by hitting one hit and striking out five in five innings in the final against Daegu Sangwon of the “78th Golden Lion National High School Baseball Tournament” held at Mokdong Stadium in Seoul on the 29th. Deoksu High School won the team’s 7th Golden Lion (1994-1995, 2004, 2013, 2016-2017 and 2024) and won its 22nd major national championship.
With six wins and an ERA of 0.71 in 11 games (38 ⅓ innings) this year, Chung is considered to be the top pick in the 2025 Rookie Draft, surpassing the top left-hander. He also showed off his overwhelming performance in the three games (11 ⅓ innings) with two wins and an ERA of 0.82. In the final, he blocked the lineup of Sangwon High School by displaying near-perfect pitching that allowed only one on base.
In an interview after the game, Chung said, “I’m so happy to win the title today. I think I threw because I got more energy thanks to the extra day off due to rain. In the previous game at Gwangju High School, when the number of pitches increased, I lost a little bit of strength, but today I was able to throw more than 60 pitches today, because I gained more strength and was able to throw more easily.”
“Today, I was also surprised (watching Jung Hyun-woo’s pitch). When I was constantly getting cut off against a good hitter named Soo Soo-ho in the last inning, he gave me an autograph and threw a fork. So I struck out swinging. Seeing that, (Jung) Hyun-woo said, “I thought that if I could take a good approach, I would become a really good pitcher.”
“(Ham) Suho kept missing sliders at the first batter’s box, so we focused on sliders and fastballs,” said Jung Hyun-woo, who looked back on his last showdown with Soo-ho. “But I kept thinking about throwing curveballs or splitters because my fastballs and sliders were cut off, and I gave him a sign that I would throw splitter because I was confident in the splitter rather than curves. I struck out because I went in well.”
Chung is a top-rated prospect who is highly likely to be named the No. 1 overall pick in the 2025 Rookie of the Year draft, along with the right-handed ace Jeong Woo-joo. “My goal is to maintain the pace and not lose strength until the end of the Phoenix Recruitment,” said Jeong. “I think command is one of the advantages. The completion of breaking balls has also improved, and he seems to connect well with batters. Koo is throwing fast balls, sliders, curves, and fork balls. Among them, he is the most confident in folk balls.” “I have known (Jung) Woo-joo since I was little. I met him for the first time when I was a fifth grader. Woo-joo threw more than 150 kilometers per hour so easily that I think I need to be perfect until the end of this season to compete with Woo-joo,” he said, hinting at his ambition as the No. 1 overall pick.
Chung Hyeon-woo, who picked Yoshinobu Yamamoto as his role model, said, “I used to see Moon Dong-ju (Hanwha) a lot before, but these days, I see a lot of Imana Shota (Cups) or Yamamoto Yoshinobu. I think they are good at throwing folk balls, so we have a lot to learn.”
Chung once mentioned the possibility of going to the Major League. However, Chung said, “I will try to enter the U.S. after gaining good experience in Korea. I think doing well in Korea comes first,” stressing that he would not go directly to the Major League. 스포츠토토
