Left-handed pitcher Jung Gu-beom (24, NC Dinos), a “forgotten prospect,” headed to the military.
Jung quietly enlisted in the military after training at Nonsan Army Training Center. “If you want to go to Sangmu (Korean military sports unit), you have to wait (for the applicable date). There was a request from the player himself that he wanted to quickly resolve the military service and prepare for the next one,” NC’s general manager Lim Seon-nam told this newspaper.
Chung Koo-beom, who graduated from Deoksu High School, was the biggest draft pick in 2020. When he was a junior in high school, he won three national championships with an ERA of 0.90 and was mentioned as the first candidate among teams in Seoul. However, he was excluded from the first round and joined the NC Dinos, which had the first overall pick in the second round. “When I was a second grader as a representative of the youth team, I saw him pitching, which was great,” NC manager Lee Dong-wook said, expressing his expectations. “He was able to throw in and out the ball (in the strike zone) and played with it.” In the NC scouting part, he said, “You can throw sliders, curves, and splitters freely in addition to direct balls.”
After joining NC, Jung’s growth rate was slow. His physical condition was a problem. When he was in high school, he played too many games, and his shoulder condition was not good. 라바카지노도메인 He let go of the ball for a while due to the club’s judgment that he needed to gain more weight. After playing in only four games in 2020, Jung left for Kansas City in the U.S. with permission from his team in August of the following year. He posted on his personal social media a photo of him gaining 17 kilograms by training individually for about four months at the place his family is staying.
The team prepared for the 2022 season in Kansas City by conducting weight training, reinforcement and technical training at the same time. However, none of them were effective. Since his debut in the first division in the 2022 season, he pitched in two games and played only four games last year. His overall performance in the first division was not remarkable, either, with one loss in six games and an earned run average of 8.36. His performance in the second division (7 wins, three losses, five holds average 4.79). He has high expectations for a promising pitcher in his team, but his performance has not been as good as his.
Jung’s choice was to serve in the military. Since it was hard to expect benefits in the military service after participating in an international competition, joining the military service was a realistic alternative. “I think he has a plan to return to the second half of next year and do well from the next season,” Lim said. “I have regrets, but it’s not bad to start anew after completing military service rather than spending some time vaguely.”
